Kingdom Hearts: The Living Nightmare
by TheShadowHunterXIII
Summary: The sequel to Kingdom Hearts: Light Within The Dark. Six months have passed since the defeat of Rasputin. While Patrick is trying to help restore Aqua to her former glory, the worlds are in grave danger, for the realm of dreams are crossing the rifts and the Dream Eaters are invading the real world. NOTE: This may contain some mentions that's from Agent of the Shadows
1. Calling of the Nightmare

**A/N: It's a shame Kingdom Hearts is coming short upon it's saga. Personally, I think Square Enix should learn some ideas from the fans. Cause I think the Dream Eaters should have another game, only where they invade in the real world. Here's where this story takes place.**

World: Radiant Garden

* * *

It's quiet and peaceful in the city of the eternal night. Right about now, it's normally daytime, but not in Traverse Town.

On the top of a clock tower, a mysterious man stands upon it. A man in a ragged gray mental cape, metal skeletal mask that glows red eyes, arms wrapped in bandages, black tunic and pants and boots.

The Living Nightmare who made a sudden appearance during the Keyblade War Tournament in the Mirage Arena, and also in Radiant Garden Castle Gates Ruins after we defeated the Legion and the Doombringer two months after the Shadowmoon's downfall.

Everyone in all the worlds wonder who he is. Leon and the rest of the Radiant Garden gang, including Sora and his friends, wonder what he's plotting. All we know is that he has some kind of connection to Ventus.

"The barrier weakens!" The mysterious man's voice is distorted and deep. He gives a robotic inhale and exhales steam through the sealed teeth. "After all these years, I am finally free from my prison of slumber. Now...the time has come!" The mysterious man raises both hands in the air, channeling dark magic. "Let us have some fun."

Out of no where, Nightmare Dream Eaters appears. The people wondering around town starts panicking seeing the dark creatures, as they attack them.

There's pretty much no where to run from them.

The mysterious man gazes down at the event. Watching all the innocent citizens running in fear. "Soon! All worlds will drown in the darkness of the nightmare!"

* * *

I sit in a meditating stance in the center of the Central Square, focusing on my energy and power.

It's been six months since the defeat of Rasputin and the Shadowmoon. A lot of changed during that time. Like for instance: The world has constructed a statue of my liking on the fountain of the Outer Gardens. While it's a statue of me and my triumph upon an ancient dangerous enemy in the darkness, it's also a memorial service for my people.

Their bravery and tragic will not be forgotten.

' _Patrick LeiShen_

 _The sole survivor of the Shadowmoon's wrath upon the destroyed world known as Kingdom of Hearts. A once proud world that belonged to the LeiShens, a royal family of powerful Keyblade Warriors who sought to protect Kingdom Hearts from the forces of the darkness. May their souls rest in peace, knowing their young prince may live and the traitorous Rasputin and his Shadowmoon are now defeated._ '

I meditate with the Hexicon in front of me. The Hexicon is a powerful spellbook that's been passed down from generation to generation by the LeiShens. My master Yen Sid gave it to me four months ago when he sent me out on a scouting mission about certain people disappearing. What little did i knew it was a secret agent of the Shadowmoon. what's even more surprising is the Shadowmoon is still alive, dozens of it's remaining members are hiding in the shadows.

I need to stay sharp and find them. Otherwise I would end up in a tombstone when I let my guard down.

I quietly mutter in Latin on a Time spell. While I concentrate, Sora, Ruki, Ventus and Terra are hiding. Even though I'm not looking, it's very pointless. I can still feel their presence.

They wait, their Keyblades at hand. With quick speed and quiet stealth, they leap towards me. I hold my hands out in front of me and snap my fingers, unleashing an arcane wave. The second it hits the four of them, they are frozen in time.

Stop Time.

Snapping out of my trance, I pick up the Hexicon and then stand up. Sora and Riku are stuck midair, about to do an aerial attack. I move them so they're gonna bump into each other. Terra and Ventus are different. Terra's doing an under strike and Ventus is just charging. He's twice as long as everyone else before he became frozen.

I figured I mix it up a bit for these two.

I put Ventus right next to Terra, remove Terra's Keyblade and have him grab Ventus by his underwater. It's about to get pretty silly here.

After moving aside, facing the four of them. I snap my fingers, breaking the spell. Sora and Riku crashes into each other and Terra gives Ventus a hard wedgie. Raising his arm high and using all his strength, it literally pulls Ven off his feet. Hearing Ventus's cry of pain, Terra realizes and is both surprised and shocked.

The four of them take a moment to realize what happened. Second, they're coming at me. The next thing they all knew, Sora and Riku are facing each other and Terra is giving Ventus a wedgie, unknowingly. They recover getting back on their feet. "No fair! You can't use spellbook magic!" Terra says.

I hold the Hexicon in front of me. "Hexicon...It's the Hexicon." I say. "And no one ever said I can't use it in battle."

"So that's how it's gonna be?" Riku says.

Sora, Terra, Ventus and Riku hold their Keyblades in place. I smile. "I love a good challenge." I put the Hexicon away and then summon my Keyblade, the Black Angel. And now we engage in a serious battle.

Ventus makes the first strike with speed, but not fast enough. I dodge hit attack then I block Terra's incoming attack. While we're on hold, I kick Terra in the back of his knee, causing him to lose his balance and knock him down easily.

Sora and Riku ambush me from behind, together. I turn, block Sora's attack then quickly summon Unbreakable Connection, my second Keyblade, to block Riku's attack. I rebel them back then leap towards Sora. Terra comes at me. I have Sora pinned down, then I roll to the side, having Terra leap on Sora instead.

I go after Riku and Ventus. Both of them attack me together. I have them handled, block every attack they put on me. I sweep kick Riku, knocking him off of his feet then down a another quick sweep, hitting him right in the stomach to knock him back.

I do a palm strike on Ventus. Only staggers him back.

Now, everyone has me surrounded. "Together! He can't stop us all at once." Sora says.

He's right. I can't. But that doesn't mean I have to. All at once, they leap on me. Just before they hit me, I use my darkness magic, submerging into the ground in a shadowy mist. The four of them each up crashing into each other.

Once they're down, I surfaced out of the dark mists. "Game. Set. And Match."

Everyone else moans in disappointment. "He's too good. I don't think we're ever gonna beat him." Ventus says.

I chuckle a little. "Well, this is what you get when you train hard core under the great Yen Sid." I say. "Don't worry. You'll get there someday...maybe in a couple years."

Riku stands up. "Says you. Yen Sid made me a Keyblade Master and all I did was save Sora from his dark slumber."

Sora is a bit disappointed. Sure, he is proud that Riku made Keyblade Master over the exam, but that's mostly because Riku doubts he's worthy because of his inner darkness. Now Sora wishes he had become a master as well.

* * *

After our little training session, Sora and Riku return to their home on Destiny Islands. I just wonder around the town with Terra and Ventus until sunset. We end our little travel at the statue of me in the Outer Gardens. I stand straight, a Keyblade on my right hand and on my left, an orb of magic raised at my shoulder level. The statue is thirty feet tall. Pretty large.

"I can't believe it's been six months." Ventus says.

"Indeed. Time sure flies." I say. "Feels like yesterday, I was in my destroyed homeworld facing that traitorous Rasputin."

"It's not surprising then the fifteen years we've been gone." Terra wraps an arm around me, giving me a gentle punch on the shoulder. "Seriously, we owe you one for saving us."

"It's nothing. Even since they were mostly lucky encounterments." I say. That's literally true, since during my journey, it was all about finding Aqua. Never gave any thoughts of saving Terra and Ventus from their fates. Though I had a feeling Aqua would encourage me to save them once I saved her.

"What I really can't believe is that our friend here is a LeiShen, the most powerful Keyblade Wielders in the entire realm." Ventus says.

"It's probably shocking for you, but not as much as when I found out." The way I say it, it's because when I found out, I have learned that my entire world was destroyed. Making me the Last of the royal family.

"Still. The Heartless just doesn't know when to quit. After taking on the strongest enemies in the darkness, they just don't stop coming for us." Ventus says.

"Yep. The Heartless are just as mindless as the villains they serve." I say.

Once it's nighttime, we return home. Just in time for dinner. Aerith does the cooking now. Serah left Radiant Garden once she and Noel has found their homeworld three months ago. I miss Serah, but I'm still happy for her.

After dinner, we all watch a movie for a bit. One by one, we leave during the movie. Terra and I were the only ones who remain until the end. Once it's done, we go upstairs on the second floor hallway.

"So. What are you gonna tomorrow?" Terra asks, like he doesn't have a care in the world.

I stop my tracks at his question. "I'm...going to visit the Destiny Islands."

Terra stops. He turns and looks at me with concern. "The islands...you're visiting Aqua aren't you?"

After the war, Aqua was miserable at losing her ability to walk. So Sora suggested taking her to the islands, where he knows someone who can help her heal from her disability.

"Yeah. It's the least I can do. Being all cooped up on that island." I say. "You and Ventus really should visit often. Aqua did say she misses you too."

"She did? ...I actually didn't think of it. We just didn't want to bother her while she was on medical leave." Terra says.

"I get what you mean. But this is Aqua we're talking about. She sacrificed herself for my own safety." I say. Terra realizes that is true. This is the same Aqua who took me under her wing, even after I called her my mother. "Just wish there is something I can do."

"Well...what about that Hexicon book? Doens't it have any healing spells that'll help her?" Terra asks.

"I tried the Healing Hands, but it only made things worse." I point out. "Besides, even if there were a healing spell to fix Aqua, it would be too powerful for me to manage."

Terra laughs a little. That offends me a little. "For a powerful LeiShen, you're not even a strong healer."

"Oh shut it. You're the one to talk. Mr. Weak at magic." I say.

Terra gives me a stern look. "Touché."

I groan in disappointment. This conversation is not cheering me up from Aqua's situation. "I'm just gonna head into bed. I'll see you later."

I open my door and close it right behind me. Terra just stays in the hall in silence.

* * *

At night, Ventus is in his dreams. There's really not much to it. Nothing but darkness and a fog. Ventus wonders around. He has no idea what's going on or where he is.

"Hello?" His call echoes afar.

Nobdy answers. But still, Ventus can't shake off his eerie feeling. After a while, somebody appears behind him. Ventus didn't know until he hears the mechanical breathing. Screaming, he jumps back as he turns. Facing the mysterious man.

"What the?" Ventus doesn't say anything else. He's in shock by the man's sudden appearance.

"You thought you'd seen the last of me? You're mistaken." The skeletal mask exhales steam through the teeth. "The nightmare comes. Not even the realm of the wake is safe..." The masked man points at Ventus. "For you...or your friends."

"Who...Who are you?" Ventus asks. He has a feeling he's met the man, but he still doesn't know who he is.

"A shadow...An outcast...A nightmare...Without a heart." The man answers before he walks back, disappearing into the fog.

Mickey is having a happy time right now. He's right now on a date with his queen, Minnie. Strange thing is that everything is in Black and White and they're dressed normally instead in royal garments.

They're having a picnic and everyone and everything is as weird and festive as the Timeless River past Sora, Donald and Goofy was visiting to stop Pete from doing damage to the castle. Everything's going all fine until a dark storm appears. Mickey and Minnie are both astonished by the sudden storm.

Not just that. Dream Eaters appear. Nightmares. Surrounding them both. They both scream in fear, even thought there's no audio of their voices. Right behind them, the Living Nightmare appears. His mechanical breathing startles the both of them. Shaking in fear, slowly, they turn.

"You cannot escape from the Nightmare!" Living Nightmare summons his main Keyblade, Oblivion. He holds it backhanded. "It is everywhere. It will find you. No matter where you hide!"

Living Nightmare strikes. The slash causes the whole scene to shatter like glass, and Mickey wakes up terrified.

Mickey was asleep and he was just having a nightmare. But Mickey knows this isn't any ordinary nightmare.

At the Mysterious Tower, Yen Sid looks out his window at the stars. He senses something wrong in the worlds. Darkness. Nightmares. They're coming.

The sudden of heavy footsteps. Running fast. Getting stronger. Then the door bursts open. "Master Yen Sid!"

Mickey pants heavily. He's out of breath from all that running. "I know...something is happening." Mickey is surprised. "The nightmares..."

"What do you think it means, master?" Mickey asks.

"I don't know. But I fear it could mean a great danger is coming, to drown all worlds into the darkness." Yen Sid says.

"I was thinking the same thing too." Mickey says. "What can we do?"

"Hmm..." Yen Sid strokes his beard as he thinks. "I must take a look into this. See what I can discover. Mickey, I want you to investigate the worlds. See what is going on."

Mickey salutes. "You can count on me, master!"

Mickey leaves Yen Sid's chambers. He makes his way through the tower and out into the cortyard. Yen Sid watches Mickey use the Star Shard, turn into the light and makes off like a shooting star.

Once he's gone, Yen Sid looks at the stars. "Ventus...I fear that your awakening has brought us a dangerous enemy."


	2. Physical Therapy

**A/N: We all get to see how everyone is doing. Now it's Aqua's turn. I'm sure you're all concern and wondering what's happened to her. How she's doing after all she's been through in the Dark Realm. We're about to see now, but it's something that she or her friends wouldn't enjoy reliving.**

World: Destiny Islands

* * *

Kairi is in Sora's house with his mother.

"What is taking them so long?" Sora's mother asks.

"I don't know. But Aqua has been acting strange lately." Kairi says.

When we brought Aqua to the islands, Sora decided to let her stay at his place while she's healing. They figured that Aqua would feel much safer living with a friend instead of some stranger, and there's no way she can live on her own due to her conditions.

The sound of a closed door reaches their ears. Kairi and Sora's mother looks at the stairs. They see Sora walking down, but Aqua isn't with him. This surprises them.

"Where's Aqua?" Kairi asks.

"She's not coming down. She says she's not hungry." Sora joins Kairi and his mother on the dinner table.

"It's strange. What's gotten into her lately?" Kairi asks.

"I'm not sure. She seems...disappointed. She didn't even want to return to the Clinic yesterday." Sora says.

Sora and Kairi worries for Aqua.

Aqua just sits on the wheelchair in her room, in the dark. She's upset. Lately, she's been spending most of her time in her room, instead of Sora pushing her around on the island. But now, she's just sitting in place, looking over an old photo. It's her and her friends Ventus and Terra, with little me in her arms.

She misses the old days when she can walk with her own two legs, instead of being pushed on a wheelchair when she lost her walking ability.

[Six months ago]

The Gummi Ship makes it ways to the Destiny Islands and lands at the shore of the main island. Luckily no one, who are completely unaware of the outside worlds, are not around.

Once the ship lands, Sora is the first to come out. I jump right out with Aqua on my back. It's the very morning when Sora told us that someone can help Aqua walk again. We have no idea what to do and Aqua is desperate.

"Feels like it's been a lifetime since I was last here." Aqua says.

"Probably has. It has been fifteen years since we were last here together." I say. "Where to, Sora?"

"This way." Sora heads into town and I follow him.

As we wonder into town, most of the citizens who are around are all wondering about Aqua and I. Some thinks we're boyfriend and girlfriend the way I'm giving her a piggyback ride. Hearing those conversations just gives Aqua and I and awkward feeling. She's like a mother to me. Dating my own mother is just...I don't even want to talk about it.

Anyways, we arrive at the Clinic. Sora knocks on the door. Nothing happens at first, then someone finally answers. Yuna Akimura.

"Sora. Good to see you again." Yuna says.

"Hi." Sora and Yuna extend and shack hands. "I'm here because of the appointment."

"Oh yes." Yuna looks at Aqua. "Is she the patient?"

"Yes. I'm sure you're aware of the situation." I say to Yuna.

"Yes, of course. Come in. Come." Yuna takes us all inside.

Yuna takes us directly to her office, which is a healing and physical therapy room for patients that need intense care. I explain to Yuna what I know so far. How Aqua was taken away and she's spent fifteen straight years in the Dark Realm, fighting all the forces of the darkness without a single moments rest.

Each part of the story I explain, Yuna cannot believe it all. But still, she wonders if all of that really leads to Aqua losing her walking ability.

"Oh dear. That sounds horrifying." Yuna says.

"Indeed. We are not sure what to do now. So Sora told us you might be able to help out." I say.

"Well. I did help people who were paralyzed in the legs. I'll see what I can do with your friend here." Yuna says.

"Thank you, Ms. Akimura." I turn to Aqua. "You going to be okay?"

Aqua offers a smile and a nod. "I'll be fine. Your friends are going to be with me." I believe she will be all right. Sora, Riku and Kairi are going to be with her.

Physical Therapy has been long an a zero process for Aqua. It's only the first day. Aqua cannot live on her own, so Sora decided that she should stay at his place while she's recovering.

Aqua was very pleased to meet Sora's mother. Funny thing is that she treated the whole thing awkwardly.

"Mother. This is Aqua. She's a friend of mine." Sora says.

"It's lovely to meet you." Aqua says.

"Aren't you a lovely young lady? Are you one of Sora's girlfriends?" Sora suddenly turns red hearing his mother say that. "Sora is always helping out girls. He even gets a little too friendly around them."

Aqua laughs. "Mom!" It's indeed one of Sora's most embarrassing moments.

Aqua can't really bellyache much. It's a nice room for her to stay in. Very comfortable even.

* * *

Aqua has been on the islands for an entire month. So far, her condition isn't going too well. She still can't feel anything below her waist. I often visit Aqua to check on her. Keep her company. Let her know that I'm still supporting her on her road to recover.

Right now, she is laying in a small pool of water on the floor in Yuna's office. The pool is filled with healing water and Yuna is using her powers. Even through there's peace and quiet, Aqua cannot relax.

"How long is this gonna take?" Aqua asks.

"Be patient. The road to recovery is not easy." Yuna tells Aqua. She stops the healing spell and kneels next to Aqua. Leg paralysis isn't easy to recover. It's possible that all that wondering and fighting caused a major exhaustion in your volition, granting a great disconnection to the legs." Aqua is a bit confused. She understands some parts. Like she knows Yuna means that there's a disconnection between her legs and her brain. "Concentrate. Focus on your toe. Visualize moving it."

Aqua notes and then she begins doing what Yuna orders. She closes her eyes, focuses her mind. Sometimes does it a little hard. Takes a while, then finally, Aqua tilts her big toe to the side. Seeing that makes her happy, and Yuna is proud. Both of them enlightened in delight. They're finally making progress.

The next few weeks of therapy was a slow process. Aqua is able to gain little feeling of her legs. The problem is regaining full control. Sora and Riku aside Aqua by helping her with standing. They hold her in place, off of her feet and, little by little, they give her some weight to put on her legs. It's a slow process because with the little weight she's carrying, the only feeling she's getting is little pain, becoming stronger with more weight she has been given.

The whole thing questions Yuna. Even when I was visiting two months ago, when Chantal was severely injured by a poison she was injected with, Yuna asked me a couple of questions. Unfortunately, I can only giver her so little answers. Aqua's condition still questions the young nurses mind.

Until one day...

* * *

"Poison!?" Aqua is in total shock.

The second after Drakel's defeat in Radiant Garden, I took Chantal and Sky to the Clinic in Destiny Islands. Sky needed to recover after being revived from death. During my battles against Drakel, who was a secret member of the Shadowmoon, I learned a terrible secret.

After Aqua was defeated, Drakel injected a poison inside of her. It's to cause a major paralysis in her system, only affected her legs. And if she ever tries to fight the poison, it would cause severe pain in the legs. Burn like fire, maybe even worse then that.

"I'm afraid so. At first, I didn't believe it, but it all made sense." I say.

"It was such a horrible thing. Even Drakel tried to use it on Patrick while they were fighting." Chantal says.

Yuna cannot believe everything she's hearing. "That's...unbelievable. If she's been poisoned, how can not the most advanced doctors in Radiant Garden notice?"

"Drakel mentioned the poison dissolves in blood. It's undetectable, no matter what you do." I say.

Everyone's speechless. All this time, we actually thought it was some kind of volition disconnection, when really it's some poison the Shadowmoon injected her with.

"Isn't there something we can do about it?" Serah asks.

"We might be able to create an antidote, but I'll need a sample of the poison that was used." Yuna says.

Luckily I came prepared for that. "Way ahead of you, Ms. Akimura." I reach into the pocket inside my black trench coat and take out a vial filled with the poison. "I was able to get a sample of the poison right after I shattered the syringe."

Yuna smiles as she takes the vial. "Excellent. This will be perfect."

Chantal gets an idea. "Wait. Patrick. What about that healing ability from your Hexicon book? The same one you used to save Sky and I? Wouldn't that help Aqua?"

I think. The Healing Hands might be a good idea. "Hmm...It is possible." I take out the Hexicon, open the book directly at the healing chapter. I carefully look over the Healing Hands ability. "But I am not sure that even I have the ability to cure Aqua."

Serah knows that is true, my healing is not the strongest. "Well, Yuna and I have strong healing powers. What if we combine it like we did on Sky?"

"I am including that. But still, can't hurt to try." I say.

"Anything I can do to help?" Chantal asks.

For the next couple of minutes, we make preparations for the healing ritual. We mostly wait because Yuna was giving one of her man an antidote creating assignment with the vial of poison and had to check Sky. I give Chantal an order that's simple for her to do.

"Like this?" Chantal asks, as she places the last incense.

I told Chantal to surround us with some incense and candles. The smell of blossoms and lilies helps relax the mind, giving a grand focus.

"Yes. This is perfect." I tell her. I sit on Aqua's left, who's laying right in the middle of the room. On her right are Yuna, Serah and Chantal. Yuna by the shoulder and Serah by the legs. I open the book to the Healing Hands and hand it to Chantal. "Hold it steady."

Chantal holds the spellbook on her lap, having it facing me. I sit legs pretzel crossed, close my eyes, inhale deeply through the nose. I begin the healing ability. I make different hand gestures as I chant the words.

"Rin. Pyo. Toh. Sha." My hands starts to glow in holy energy. "Rin. Pyo. Toh. Sha. Kai. Jin. Retsu. Zai. Zen." I apply my hands on Aqua, and the healing spreads through her body. The second I apply the Healing Hands, Serah and Yuna joins in with their healing abilities, combining them to make the Healing Hands stronger. "Mu. Ryo. Ju. Son. Mu. Ryo. Ju. Son. E. Sai. Nyu. Rai. Kak."

Aqua hardly feels different, but she strangely starts to feel pain. Chantal watches closely, in hope that this healing ability will work. "Rin. Pyo. Toh. Sha. Mu. Ryo. Ju. Son." Aqua starts groaning painfully, her body twitching. The girls take notice and start to worry.

"What's going on?" Serah asks.

"Is this the poison?" Yuna wonders.

I'm aware of Aqua's painful situation, but I don't show concern. I stay focused on my power. I remove my hands and begin the gestures again. "Rin. Pyo. Toh. Sha. Mu. Ryo. Ju. Son." Then I apply the Healing Hands on her again. "Kai. Jin. Restu. Zai. Zen. E. Sai. Nyu. Rai. Kak."

Aqua's pain grows worse. "Aqua! Hang on." Chantal says.

I give Healing Hands on last time. "Rin! Mu! Pyo! Ryo! Toh! Ju! Sha! Son! Kai! E! Jin! Sai! Retsu! Nyu! Zai! Rai! Zen! Kak!" The light grows strong, but that does no stop the pain Aqua is suffering. After a while, nothing happens, and Aqua can no longer take the pain.

That's when I have a horrible realization. I suddenly stopped. By then, Yuna and Serah were both struggling to meantine healing. They suddenly stopped when I did.

"Why did you stop?" Serah asks.

Seeing Aqua in pain, I react fast. "Yuna! Do something!"

Yuna quickly runs to her desk, pawning through her desk. Soon enough, she finds a syringe with yellow liquid. She hurries to Aqua and injures the fluid, directly at her legs. Slowly, Aqua's moaning dies down. In about a minute, she's completely calm.

"What did you do?" I ask.

"Paralysis Medicine. I usually use it to numb patients on serious surgeries." Yuna says.

We all sigh in realize. "Why did you stop?" Chantal asks me. She sounds a bit horrified. Can't blame her, it was an intense moment.

"It's just as I feared." I explain. "The poison is too strong. All we've done is remove the paralysis."

Aqua sits up...sort of-ish, and she feels her motionless legs. "It was really painful...It felt like I was gonna die."

"I really had hope the Healing Hands would have worked. I'm sorry." Chantal says.

"It's not your fault. We'll find another way." I say.

* * *

The next four months was a struggle for Aqua. Since we removed the paralysis of the Shadowmoon poison, Yuna has to constantly use the Paralysis Medicine on her until they are able to make an antidote.

Overtime, they still work on Physical Therapy. Yuna is able to allow Aqua to have little bit of Paralysis Medicine, only giving her little control of her legs and also a little pain of the poison. It might help her manage to fight the poison. But so far, it's been a zero progress.

On the third month, Yuna moved the treatment onto Aqua in the walking phase with the aid of parallel bars. Every attempt, Aqua ends up being overwhelmed in pain and collapses.

[Present]

I arrive on the main island on my Hoverbike. I check in with Yuna to visit Aqua. To my surprise, I hear that she has not come in recently. I decided to head into Sora's place. I know she might be there.

I arriving at Sora's place. I knock on the door and Kairi answers. "Patrick. Hi."

"Hey, Kairi. Is Aqua here? I heard she wasn't at therapy." I say.

"She is...but she's been acting strange lately." Kairi says.

I walk right in, confused. Kairi closes the door behind me. "Really? Like what?"

"Well. She's been in her room all the time and no longer wants to do physical therapy. She also hardly talks to us anymore." Kairi says.

That's defiantly surprising. But I figured what's the problem. "I'll go talk to her." I walk up the stairs. I figured Aqua could be upset that she is no where near to recovering from the poison. I just hope I'll be able to cheer her up. I knock on the door. There's no answer, but I know Aqua is in there. "Aqua? It's me...You okay?" Still no answer. Nothing but silence is coming in the room.

Still, I grow a bit worried and I walk right in. Aqua is sitting on her wheelchair, in the dark. This surprises me. I walk inside, closing the door behind me. "Aqua...We're all worried about you. We understand you're upset, but if you want to walk-"

Aqua slams her fist on the wheelchair arm, shouting in rage. "WHAT'S THE POINT!?" I'm shocked to see her outburst like that. I've ever seen Aqua with this kind of behavior. "No one understands what I'm going through! I've been trapped here for six months and so far, I'm not even close to being able to stand without support and not even you can do a damn thing to help!"

Aqua glares at me with her anger eyes. Even though I don't show my expression, I'm concern and worried. Not to mention a bit hurtful. After realizing what she said, Aqua cools down and sudden feels regret. "I'm sorry...I just...I didn't know what got into me."

I just take a deep breath through my nose before I approach to Aqua. "Aqua. You must understand we are doing everything we can to help you. Even if there is nothing left, we will keep searching." Aqua looks down in despair. I kneel to her level and grab her hand. "You should also know you're not the only one who's going through suffering. How did you think I felt when I lost you? Me, a little child, watching my own mother taken away by the darkness."

"I don't know...scared?" Aqua says.

"More then you could possibly imagine. Trapped in a strange world when the world that was my home was taken by the darkness." I say. "But it's not just that. There was also the time when I found out who I was. I learned that my world was destroyed by the darkness. Watching my own family and people suffer. And lastly, there was when I faced the Heartless Ragnarok. That monster was made out of all the heartless's of my family and people." Aqua looks at me surprised. "Destroying that thing descended me into madness. I even attacked my own friends, especially Serah. She suffered the most...even though part of it wasn't directly mine."

Aqua is pretty speechless. "I-I...didn't know. I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "No. It's fine. Even under all that suffering, I have found peace. I finally found you. Saved Terra and Ventus from their fates and I have a close family in Radiant Garden. What I'm trying to say is no matter what happens, everything will turn out fine." I put a hand on Aqua's leg. "We'll have you back on your feet somebody. Just have faith."

Aqua tries to take in my words. She knows I've been through a lot trying to save her. She can understand what I've been through. After everything that's happen, I still found peace. Aqua smiles. "Yeah. You're right. Thanks, I needed to hear that."

I manage to boost her confidence. That's very nice. I take Aqua down the stairs, then Sora and I take her outside. We're just on our way to head to the Clinic for Aqua's physical therapy. Until...

"Sora! Patrick!" We both stop and turn, to see Riku is coming. He's hold a bottle in his hand, out of breath. "Look..."

Sora and I look. There's a message inside the bottle. What surprises us most about the message is that it has Mickeys seal on it. "A message? From the king?" Sora asks.

"Seems that way." I take the bottle. I open it and dump out the letter. Reading it closely, I am completely shocked.

"What is it?" Riku asks.

"Master Yen Sid needs to see us right away!" I say.


	3. Tasks and Retests

**A/N: One thing you guys should know: Those of you who haven't read "Agent of the Shadows", The character Chantal from the previous chapter, she is actually an OC Kingdom Hearts character by SnowEmbrace from DeviantART. She's actually pretty awesome, I think you guys would love her...oh, and SnowEmbrace as well...Ha ha, I'm just kidding. But really, SnowEmbrace is awesome, you'll find enjoyment in her comics. She even does this "Ask my OC's" Questionnaire just left a question in the comments and she'll make a deviant of the selected character answering them. It's amazing really. Go to her Deviant and try it out.**

 **Moving on: The darkness of Nightmares and the Dream Eaters are coming. Most of you are wondering who's the mysterious man in the mask. You will all find out soon enough. It's only a matter...of time. *Closes the pocket watch***

World: Mysterious Tower

* * *

Master Yen Sid needed to see us right away.

In the letter Mickey sent to us, it mentioned that something is dark is coming. Mickey did an investigation himself and it seems pretty serious. About as much as when Organization XIII. After hearing their call, we immediately head for the Mysterious Tower. We even end up bringing Aqua, cause we didn't have the time to drop her off for Physical Therapy.

Whenever master Yen Sid calls, nothing else matters.

We arrive at the Mysterious Tower on the Gummi Ship. I was first, then Sora and Riku drops Aqua so I can catch her, then they dropped the wheelchair. Only thing is that they are not paying attention. The wheelchair is falling right above me. Luckily I saw it coming and dodge out of the way.

"Hey, watch it you two!" I shout at them.

"Sorry." Both of them say together.

Once they jump off the Gummi Ship, I put Aqua on the wheelchair and we all walk towards the tower, with me pushing Aqua.

"I still can't believe you were training under Yen Sid. That's incredible." Aqua says. "I can try for years but never become one of his pupils."

"Yeah, well since I am a LeiShen, the master thought I needed some proper training. Hard core even." I say.

"I noticed." Aqua says.

We enter the tower, walking up the countless flights of stairs. This is going to be hard to carry Aqua up the stairs, which is why I cast Zero Gravity on the wheelchair.

We finally arrive to the top of the tower, into Yen Sids chambers. There, Yen Sid awaits with Mickey by his side. We all stand right in front of his table, Aqua just sits right next to me, but she sits straight, still showing respect.

"Master Yen Sid. We have arrived." I say.

"So it seems. You have arrived just in time." Yen Sid turn his attention to Aqua. "Ah, master Aqua. It has been years since we last met."

"It has, master." Aqua seems a bit disappointed. "With due respect sir, I appreciate the formality, but I'm not master anymore."

"Yes, I am well aware of the situation you are in." Yen Sid says. "I trust you are recovering well?"

Aqua doesn't answer, she doesn't really want to think about it. But I answer for her. "More or less, master...So, what did you call us here for?"

"Yes, that is right." Yen Sid says. "I'm not sure if any of you are aware, but the worlds are being attacked by the darkness of the nightmares."

We are pretty confused. "Master Yen Sid, what are you talking about?" I ask.

"The barrier between our world and the Dream World are weaken. Bit by bit, the Dream Eaters are appearing in each of the worlds. Many of them succumbed to the darkness, becoming a nightmarish world." Yen Sid says.

"Dream Eaters? That can't be happening." Riku says.

Aqua is confused on the other hand. "What are...Dream Eaters?"

"Creatures that live in the Dream World." I tell her. "They come in two forms: Dream pets that are our allies, and Nightmares that devour dreams."

We explain to Aqua about our Mark of Mastery exams, how Yen Sid sent us to the Dream Worlds to unlock the keyholes of the sleeping worlds. I took this exam when I was sixteen About six years ago, and Sora and Riku took the exam as well a year ago, but sadly only Riku passed while Sora was succumbed to the Darkness of the Nightmarish Abyss and failed.

Aqua is pretty speechless to hear all of this. She has never experienced anything like this for her exam. All she had to do was prove her strength and then face her friend Terra.

Now she wishes she and Terra went through this exam, maybe then they would both pass and they didn't have to fight each other in the end.

"I have summoned you three here because you all have experiences facing the Dream Eaters. While facing them in the Dream World was easy, facing them in the real world would be far more difficult." Yen Sid says.

"They can't be that hard, could it?" Sora says, getting a little cocky.

"Don't get in over your head, Sora. In the Dream World, we were mostly mental like they are. But we are now in a physical state." I say.

"Indeed. If a Dream Eater defeats you in the real world, not only you will be killed, but your mind will perish, leaving your body to become a mindless Nightmare." Everyone except me is pretty horrified to hear that. Now it makes sense Yen Sid only wants us to fight. We have experiences facing Dream Eaters, those who don't would be most likely doomed if they face them, or even encounter them.

"Now, let us get down to business." Yen Sid faces me. "Patrick, when you awoken Ventus, did anything happen?"

I'm confused from the start, I'm not what why he asks about Ventus all of a sudden. Even Aqua is surprised. "Well...other then fainting when he realizes how old I am...nothing really."

"What does Ventus have to do with this?" Aqua asks.

"I have sent Mickey to investigate the Nightmarish Traverse Town." Yen Sid says, having Mickey nod. "Not only did he found the Dream Eaters, but he has also found their commander."

Yen Sid casts some magic. A puff of smoke appears on his table. Once it clears, it reveals a full image of the mysterious man in the skeletal metal mask. Seeing this many surprises us all.

"I know that guy...he's the one who interfered on my Keyblade War Tournament." I say.

"Yeah. We all saw the fight." Sora says. "...Now that Yen Sid mentioned it, Ven was feeling strange before that guy arrived and after he left."

He's right. I did recall them telling me of how Ventus felt cold during the mysterious man's appearance, and then Ventus felt like he knows him, only he doesn't really know who he is. Who is he anyways?

"What you say is true, Sora. But there are more about this man's connection to Ventus." Yen Sid says. "Nine months ago, when I saw Ven's star brightening, that's when I realize he has awaken at last from his slumber. But just as his star brightens, another star appears right next to his."

"And that star belongs to this guy." Riku says.

"That is correct." Yen Sid says. "Beyond that, there is nothing else we could learn."

"One thing's for certain master, is that this guys is very dangerous if he was able to take down the barrier between the two realms." Mickey says.

"Indeed, that he is. Which is also why I entrust this task with the two Keyblade Masters and Sora." Yen Sid says.

Just being called 'Sora' just disappointments the kid. "What do we have to do, master?"

"I have done exclusive research on this situation. Patrick, as it turns out your ancestors have once dealt with this situation." Yen Sid says. "Throughout the worlds, there are Keyholes, a total of thirteen of them. These keyholes hold the power to restore the barrier of the Dream World. If you find and lock them with your Keyblades, it should drive off the Nightmares."

We all know our assignment, but before we say anything, Yen Sid still speaks. "However, finding these keyholes are going to be much more difficult to find. Even I can't make point of their location. But I do believe there is one within Traverse Town."

"Makes sense. Where there are Dream Eaters, there are Keyholes." I say. "Don't worry, master Yen Sid. We'll handle the situation immediately."

Yen Sid nods. With that, we departed, but stopped when Yen Sid calls out. "Now just a moment." We all turn to face him. "Sora, I would like to speak to you privately."

We didn't say anything, just exchange looks. I take Aqua from Sora and Riku and I make our leave. Sora stays behind, standing straight in front of the master.

"I'm sure you are well aware of what happened on your Mark of Mastery." Yen Sid says. How can Sora forget, he almost lost his life. It's the second time he's ever succumbed to the darkness, third if you include the Chain of Memories.

"Yes...master." Sora says disappointedly, even looks down in shame.

"You should know that you are indeed a skilled Keyblade Wielder with a strong heart. Even though you are self-taught, you have learned so much on the very beginning of your journey. If I had my way, I could make you a master in a second. But I cannot do that when you lack caution and awareness. You must be well aware of the consequence of your actions." Sora cannot really be blamed for what's happened in the Dream World. He really thought he was on the Mark of Mastery Exam, when really he was in a trap set by Xehanort and the true Organization XIII. "But it's nothing to blame yourself for. A real master can learn from his or her mistakes. Take your friend Riku for example. He knows the darkness still has a hold of his heart and needed to be tested."

"I understand what you mean, master Yen Sid." Sora says.

"Good. Now, I want to let you know that I am going to give you a second chance to prove yourself worth as a Keyblade Master." Sora is surprise to hear this. "This journey will be much more difficult then your exam, one that only true Keyblade Masters could handle. While Riku and Patrick are the ones worthy of this task, the reason I want you to take part of this journey is to prove your worthy of becoming a master."

Sora is speechless, getting a second chance at becoming a Keyblade master. "I-I...Master Yen Sid. I don't know what to say...But I promise you, that I won't let you down."

Yen Sid smiles with a nod. "Good. Good luck to you and your friends."

With that, Sora makes his leave. Riku and I wait just outside of the tower for Sora. I tell Aqua that she should stay back on the islands. Even through she's a Keyblade Master herself, she's still in no condition for this kind of dangerous task.

"I'm going with you." Aqua says.

"No. It's too dangerous." Riku says.

"Riku is right. I already lost you once, I can't afford to lose you again." I say to her.

"I don't care. I'm tired of waiting around while everyone else is risking their lives trying to protect the light." Aqua says. "I'm going even if I have to drag myself everywhere."

By doing that, she'll defiantly make an easy pray for Dream Eaters, even those who are...well, maybe ten times inexperienced as amateurs...if there even is such a thing.

"And I thought you were a stubborn one." Riku tells me.

"Terra and Ven always told me Aqua can be like this." I say, then I sigh. "Fine you can come. But do not blame me for anything that happens."

Aqua rises her fist in triumph, she's certainly excited for this. After our little conversation, Sora comes right out of the tower. "Sora, what happened?" Riku asks.

Sora wants to tell us about the retake exam, but he pretty much knows that wouldn't be the best idea. "Uh...Nothing, we just talked a little."

"Must be something important if Yen Sid wants to speak to you privately." I say. "He rarely does those."

* * *

Before we take off on our journey, we went separate ways to ready ourselves. Sora and Riku head off into the islands while I went to Radiant Garden with Aqua.

Sora heads to the Clinic to gather some of the Paralysis Medicine from Yuna. He explains to her that Aqua is coming along on this journey they are having. Yuna couldn't believe it, but decided it might be best for Aqua to get some fresh air instead of being cramped up on a prison island.

Yuna hands Sora a brief case. "Here. This should be enough medicine to get Aqua through three weeks. She is to take a full syringe once every three days, it's important to do them precisely that amount of time. No more. No less."

Sora takes the case. "Got it. I'll let Patrick know. Thank you."

Meanwhile, in Radiant Garden, I'm preparing supplies and luggages for Aqua and I. While I'm doing the loading, Aqua is catching up with her friends Ven and Terra. The three of them are both excited to see each other but disappointed to know they only have little time together.

"Do you really have to go?" Terra asks.

"Well, I would to travel worlds like I use to. I'm just tired of being stuck to this wheelchair in one world." Aqua says.

"I get how you feel, Aqua." Ventus really does, despite how Eraqus use to keep him at home instead of seeing other worlds. It like a prison. "But you are still recovering. Are you sure you want to go?"

Aqua hesitates to answer, taking in Vens words. "I know I am weak, but I want to go anyways."

"I guess there's no way to talk you out of this, is there?" Terra asks. Aqua just gives him a look, that's suppose to answer his question. Of course Terra should have known already since even I can't talk her out of it. "At least promise us to be careful."

"I'm going to be pushed around by this wheelchair, I think that's something you'll have to ask Patrick and his friends." Aqua says, it's very true.

I now leave the house. I notice Aqua talking to her friends. "Don't worry you guys, I'll take good care of Aqua." Still wish I could have talked her out of it.

That said, the Gummi Ship appears. It lands and the hatch door opens. I jump in, pull Aqua up when Terra lifts her, then once she's settle in, Terra lifts the wheelchair. There really should be a wheelchair stair on this ship.

Once we're all settled in, the Gummi Ship takes flight and leaves the world.


	4. The Onyx Nightmare

**A/N: The journey begins. You will all see what it's like for a world to be devoured by the Dream Eaters in the real world. Not only that, but you will also see the organization who's behind commanding the Dream Eaters. One thing's for certain, Patrick is going to be in quite a shock once he meets his enemies.**

 **Make sure to review what you think, especially you Katryx Hirkai: SnowEmbrace, but watch the criticism. And remember: Anyone who reads my story without reviewing, *Holds out a hand* that'll be a 1000 Munny fine.**

World: Traverse Town

* * *

Our journey begins.

We are about to face Dream Eaters in the real world. As two Keyblade Masters and a well-skilled Sora, we will overcome the enemy.

Even the three of us have divided power. Different and unique.

Sora's Limit Power

Riku's Command Style Power. So far, he only has Darkest Shadow.

My D-link Power. For my D-link, I only have one friend I'm connected to. Chantal. What power she gives me...I haven't figured that out yet. Never really connected to her before, even since nothing happened between the four months I went on a journey with her to find her beloved Sky.

Three different Keyblade wielders with unique and equal power. The Dream Eaters won't stand a chance against us.

We arrive at Traverses down, just outside of the gates. We walk into town, but we were not prepared for what was inside. We didn't encounter anything evil, but the scenery is...off.

The town is darker then it's usual night time. And the sky looks like it's shattering. Cracks everywhere like someone literally hit the sky. In those cracks and broken openings of the sky reveals redish black color that taints with dark nightmare energy. The broken barrier between our world and the dream world.

"Holy swiss cheese." I say. "Look at this place."

"Is this what happens to the world that's devoured by the nightmare?" Riku asks.

"And I thought the Realm of Darkness was terrifying enough." Aqua says.

We all walk ahead, me pushing Aqua's wheelchair, looking around as we wonder ahead. By the stairs to the second level of First Distract, a Dream Eater appears. A Flowbermeow. We are all startled, but Aqua is mostly wondering.

"What is that thing?" She asks.

"A Dream Eater." Riku says. But the Flowbermeow is not alone. More Dream Eaters appear. Komory Bats, Meow Wows and Necho Cats. "But it's not the only one."

The three of us summon our Keyblades. "Take them down!" I say.

Sora and Riku charges in, I stay right beside Aqua. She's too helpless to defend herself. The Dream Eaters focuses on Sora and Riku. Few, a Meow Wow and two Necho Cats, slip by them and come towards Aqua and I. I act fast and cut them down, in one single slash.

Sora and Riku still fight off their Dream Eaters. Just when I'm free, more Dream Eaters pop out of nowhere, surrounding the both of us.

"Stay calm, Aqua. I got this." I say.

I crack my neck, standing still in total awareness of my surroundings. All the Dream Eaters leap on us. I cast a Magnet spell and they all end up stuck in the small orb of magnet right on top of me. I gather my energy and do an Aerial sweep, jump while sweeping with my Keyblade out. Wipe out the Dream Eaters.

Dream Eaters keep coming out. We have no idea where they're coming from, but one thing's for certain: There's too many.

"Make a run for it!" Sora says.

We all retreated towards the Backstreets. Riku pulls Aqua while I follow from behind, standing shooting firebolts at the Dream Eaters behind us to slow them down. Sora and Riku make it to the doors, I use my ice powers to create a wall of ice to block out the Dream Eaters, then I enter the Backstreets.

We're relieved to get out of that situation. "Boy, those Dream Eaters are tough."

"What's the matter? Can't handle some small fry?" We're all on alert hearing that voice. We look at the path ahead, but we don't see anyone.

"Who's there!? Show yourself!" Sora demands.

What we don't know is the person is right on top of the gates to the First Distract.

She jumps and lands in front of the door. We turn to see who it is. A female in a block robe, with long black hair. Sora, Riku and Aqua have hostile expressions for her, but I am shocked to see the girl.

"Who are you, what are you doing here?" Riku asks.

"How cute. You think you can interrogate me?" The women asks.

Riku and Sora are ready to attack, but I stop them. "Wait!" I step forward, Sora and Riku are upset that I've stopped them, but become shocked when I speak. "Lauren? ...Is that you?" The girl looks confused, replacing previous expression of evil sassiness. "There's no mistaking it...It's me, Patrick...Patrick LeiShen." The girl doesn't say anything. "Don't you remember? ...We use to play together. The park? The beach? Our parents were close friends."

"You saying...she's your friend?" Sora asks.

"Humph." The girl denies it. "I don't know what you're talking about. My name Xalrune, and if are gonna try and trick me, it's not gonna work." Xalrune snaps her fingers, and Dream Eaters appears.

We're all surprised. She commands the Dream Eaters. An army of Jestabocky. The Dream Eaters come for us. Sora and I defeat a few before we retreat, moving onward on the Backstreet.

"Seize them!" Xalrune orders, and the Dream Eaters chase after us. As we run, Dream Eaters appears on the path ahead of us.

"I'll take care of them!" Riku summons his Keyblade. "Sora! Take the wheel!"

Riku just ditches Aqua before Sora even gets the chance to take the wheelchair. Luckily Sora was able to catch it before she ends up wheeling backwards on an uphill ramp.

Riku activates his Command Style, the Darkest Fear. Enhanced in dark energy, Riku takes out the Dream Eaters. I lend him a hand, but he's stronger and faster, only by an extra level.

With an army of Dream Eaters chasing after us, we make it out of the Backstreet, entering the Fountain Court. Sora and Riku are panting, a bit tired from all that running.

"Patrick...Do you know her?" Sora asks.

"Indeed. She was my friend Lauren back in my birth homeworld...before the Shadowmoon attacked." I say. "How can she not remember me?"

"She was calling herself...Xalrune...Wait." Riku is one to him.

He and I think.

Lauren.

Xalrune.

Then it hit us. "She's a Nobody!" It makes sense. During the attack, Rasputin turned almost everyone into Heartless's Lauren must have turned into one, and then she had a Nobody.

"Clever thinking." We are startled by a deep male voice. We all look up to see a muscle brown bald man in a black rope.

"I don't believe it...Peter? The Captain of the Royal Guard?" Sora and Riku are astonished, mouth open with no words coming out, to hear that.

"Not anymore! The names Rexpet! And I shall have all four of you on your knees!" Rexpet says.

Aqua speaks even through what she says isn't gonna help. "Technically, I can't feel anything below my waist...I can't be on my knees...exactly."

Rexpet grumbles. "You got quite a smart mouth with you, LeiShen." Dream Eaters appears. Dog like Nightmares known as Bark Bone. "Attack!"

The Bark Bones come straight for us. We attack the Nightmares. The Bark Bones are no challenge, we take them down easily even since Riku is still in his Command Style. One he reaches his full power, he unleashes Darkest Fear, unleashing dozens of dark bolts in all directions, up to a total of five dozen, and then deliverys a heavy powerful blow on his Dream Eater target.

Sora and I stay close to Aqua, the Dream Eaters were mostly targeting her. I still don't see why she would want to come if she's just gonna make easy pray to the Dream Eaters.

We defeat all the Dream Eaters. We look up to Rexpet. "Catch me if you can!" Rexpet jumps off the building and makes a run into the Fourth Distract.

"After him!" I say, grabbing the Wheelchair and running after Rexpet. We entered the Fourth Distract, we lost him but we keep running all the way to the entrance of the tournament. "Damn it! We lost him!"

We all look around, on alert. No sign of Rexpet or the Dream Eaters.

"Ha ha ha!" We all look up at the roof of the tournament building. A man with a buzz cut blonde hair and an eyebrow on his right eye stands, a metal bostaff in his hand.

"Oh no. It's Redan, the trainer." I say.

"The trainer?" Riku asks.

"What? You thought the LeiShens train themselves?" I ask him.

"He's got you there." Sora says.

"Ha! Look at what dragged to my arena! Fresh meat! You have encountered the mighty Xander!" Xander slams the roof with his staff, next thing we know we're surrounded by countless Dream Eaters. "Now! Kill your hundred or be killed!"

Oh great, just what we need.

The Dream Eaters come at us, one-by-one. Five-by-five. It's not a pretty fight. I stay close to Aqua, using two Keyblades to even the scales. They dare come close to her and I make them pay the price.

The numbers are endless. Sora decides to use one of his Limit abilities, one that requires Riku's help.

Wrath of the Heavens.

Sora enhanced in light. Riku enhanced in darkness, the two of them blasting rapidly, thrusting any Dream Eaters they charge against at lightspeed. Even faster then my Shadow Dash...if that is even possible. They knocked down a ton of Dream Eaters. For a final blow, they do an X sonic charge on a Dream Eater, and an explosion of light and darkness sets off on the Dream Eater.

The fight goes on for a while. Xander laughs with delight. "I am pleased! I could watch you dogs fight for hours!"

I growl softly as I take out the Hexicon. "Sorry, Xander...But we don't have that kind of time!" I flip the pages to the Ice spells and begin the level seven freeze spell. "Et, cum exercitu innumerabili modicum patietur a frigore hostium dedisset!"

My hands are coated in frost, then I slam them on the ground unleashing a large wave of ice. All the Dream Eaters the ice passes instantly freezes. We found our opening and make a run for it.

Xander is not pleased with our escape. "I only counted 99 kills, prince!"

"Then I guess we owe you one!" I shout, looking over my shoulder to Xander. We retreated to the Fifth Distract. Xander didn't follow us, and there are no Dream Eaters around. Nothing but rivers and the large greenhouse.

We don't let our guard down. "We've gotta find that Keyhole." Sora says.

"No kidding." I say.

"Yeah! Good luck with that!" We found a women with curly black hair. Very attractive, can charm any men to do her bidding. In her hand is a Tessen. Instead of a Black Robe, she's in a black and gray kimono with black ninja pants and boots. Complete with a black headband.

"Who is she?" Aqua asks.

"It's Selena. The kunoichi." I say.

"The name is Lexsane! And you're next stop is going to be the hospital!" Lexsane says.

"Is that suppose to be a joke? Cause it's terrible." Riku says, and it's true.

"Yeah...Selena's not well known for her sense of humor." I say.

Lexsane throws several throwing stars, front her left hand, at us then launches her tessen.. Riku blocks them with his Dark Shield. We didn't see the Tessen coming and it ends up hitting me on the side of my face, leaving a scratch on the cheek.

Lexsane catches her weapon and grins in delight. "She's too dangerous. We need to get out of here!" I say.

Lexsane acts fast, jumps off the building and lands in front of the greenhouse. She goes after Sora and Riku. They fight well but they fall so quickly.

I look around for an escape route. All I can find is a tunnel in the river. I shoot a fireball, destroying the metal bars. "This way!" I grab Aqua and head for the tunnel. Sora and Riku gets back on their feet. Lexsane comes after them, I see her coming and hold her off.

Sora and Riku helps Aqua into the tunnel, which turns out to be a downward slide. Once everyone is in, I rebel Lexsane and run for the tunnel, sliding down the sewers.

Lexsane reaches the tunnel, but just stops. "Uck! Like hell if I'm going down there..." Lexsane shrug her shoulders. "I'll let Xanamad handle them."

The tunnel leads us all the way to the Alleyway. Aqua just crashes against the metal bars, then Sora, then Riku and then it breaks down once I crash.

We all groan in pain. Sora, Riku and I struggles to stand back up. "Not exactly...one of your best escape plans."

I set the wheelchair back on its wheels. "Hey! At least we escaped!"

Sora and Riku helps Aqua sit back on the wheelchair. Now we wonder down the Alleyway. So far, we don't encounter any Dream Eaters, but we are greeted by a dagger raining down on us. Barely missed Sora by a hair. The boy ends up screaming like a girl and jumps into my arms. (I know Sora wouldn't be like that, but I wanted to do something like this) Sora looks at me, shocked, then nervously smiles. I give a stern look and drop him from my arms.

"Hello, twerp. Missed me?" We all look up the terraces of the hotel. It's a girl with short red hair, in a black robe. In each of her hands, a knife in between each of her fingers.

"Friend of yours?" Aqua asks me.

I give a bummed look. "Unfortunately, yes...she's my Babysitter, Amanda." There's no response, but I look at everyone. To my surprise, everyone gives me looks that shows they can't believe what I said. "...What? I was an infant and my parents were busy running the whole kingdom."

"What's the matter?" Amanada's Nobody starts talking in a baby voice. "You gonna go crying to your mommy and daddy?" Then she speaks normally. "Well, you will be once Xanamad gets through with you."

Xanamad is throwing daggers at us, one at a time, but fast. Riku and Sora deflect the daggers. What surprises us is that they keep coming. "We can't fight her. Retreat!" I say.

The three of us runs down the Alleyway, Xanamad runs across the terraces sending daggers down at us. At the end of the Alleyway, we make our escape in the broken hole of the fence, returning to First Distract.

"Back to where we started." Aqua says.

"Still no sign of a Keyhole." Sora says.

"Yeah. Couldn't find one under all that countless battles of the Dream Eaters and encountering the Nobodies of old friends of mine." I say, the second part of my sentence sounding sarcastic.

"What's wrong? Aren't we making a friendly reunion?" We're on our feet hearing that voice. A man walks out of the corner, in short brown hair with a bow and set of arrows.

I'm shocked beyond surprise. "No way! Uncle Douse?"

The man is mad. "It's Exodus! And I will show you what happens when you interfere with our plans!"

Exodus shoots arrows at us. We avoid them, but we discovered their explosive once they hit the building walls. Riku charges in and attacks Exodus. Exodus blocks his attack, but Sora makes a quick counter strike, directly at the head. Exodus is knocked down and we run towards Second Distract.

We wonder down Second Distract. "Can we go five minutes without encountering Dream Eaters or your little friends?" Riku asks.

"Like it's my fault they suddenly pop out of no where." I say.

"So, I guess that ruins my surprise." Up on top of the Gizmo Workshop, is a man with black hair, wielding two Katana swords.

"Oh great. Who are we up against this time?" Riku asks.

"Sentie, the Blacksmith." I say.

Sentie's Nobody jumps down, landing in front of us. "Not anymore. I am now Sixteen! I shall cut you boys down and make a new armor with your bones!"

I make a stand, a stern look on my face. "Sora, Riku. Get Aqua out of here." Sora and Riku doesn't question it, they do what I say. I face Sixteen on my own.

I activate my D-link with Chantal. Enhanced in light energy, wielding my two Keyblades. Sixteen comes at me, and I come at him a second later. We both fight. Block and parrying each others attacks. Every strike I make flashes musical notes, and the sounds of my attacks make music, much like how Sora and Riku attacked in the Dream World Symphony of Sorcery.

The power of music.

I perform one of my abilities, Melody Dance, my Keyblades twirl at high speed, of light and water, and I perform vicious slashes. Sixteen dodges most of them. For my final strike, Sixteen blocks and instantly does a disarming technique. It was so quick, I barely caught it and do anything to prevent it.

I leap back and shoot bolts of Water at him Sixteen comes at me, deflecting the water bolts. Once I land, I summon both of my Keyblades and continue attacking him. I then disarm Sixteen, while he's defenseless, I make a run for it, heading towards the Third Distract where Sora and Riku went to.

Sora, Aqua and Riku are all in the center of the area. I catch up to them, still linked to Chantal's spirit.

"I think we finally lost them." I say.

"Good...Need to catch my breath." Riku says.

Riku is right, the three of us is tired. Aqua's the lucky one since she doesn't have any use of her energy. "Well, at least the worst part is over." Aqua says.

She had to say that. The moment she did, something large lands right behind us. Big enough to cause a rumble. We all turned. It's a large Dream Eater, a brute gorilla with some kind of box for a body. Hockomonkey.

The beast roars fierce. "Or maybe not." Aqua says, speechlessly shocked.

I put Aqua at a safe distance, out of the battlefield. With our Keyblades summoned, we take on the Dream Eater.

My attacks are more powerful due to still being linked to Chantal, but not as brutal as Hockomonkey throws at us. The Dream Eater swings its fists, Riku avoids the attacks. Sora gets hit while I block once then get hit on the second.

Riku goes for the legs, swinging his Keyblade and burning with Dark Fire. Sora and I recovered and we hit the creature high. The Hockomonkey blocks my attack, but wasn't too lucky with Sora. I perform Faith, unleashing pillars of light surrounding me. They spin at high speed and expend.

Hockomonkey tucks its body into the box body, then turn into a hammer. It's one thing for this to happen in the Dream World, but the Real World...that's just strange. The...hammer...Mockomonkey smashes the ground. Didn't hurt us, unless it's directly on us, then we're crushed.

Hockomonkey turns back to normal, only his fists are replaced with boxing fists, now it's attacks hurts even more. I gather close to Sora and Riku and cast Cura. "Heal!" Sora and Riku and I got our injures healed and energy restored.

Riku and I block the fists while Sora slide dashes on Hockomonkey's face and then does a Blitz.

Our fight against the Dream Eater grows hard. For Aqua, she's bummed that she's sitting on the sidelines. Now she sees she's better off staying on the islands.

Hockomonkey tucks its body inside the box. We don't bother to attack. We've faced this strategy once and our attacks are all blocked. All of its bouncing, something wild is happening inside. Soon enough, it bursts out of the box, unleashing its stored power.

I'm the only one standing, and what's worst, the Hockmonkey goes berserk. It roars, drumming it's body and then viciously attacks. I dodge and block almost every attack. Sora and Riku recovers and attack from behind while the Dream Eater is focused on me. Riku even enters Darkest Fear during the attacks.

Hockomonkey finally calms down, and I'm able to unleash my full power of the Chantal Dimension Link.

Harmony's Heart.

Enhanced in great light, my attacks are swift and brutal. Faster then the speed of sound. Literally, no noise is made. Instead with each strike, an orb of musical light over my head grows large. After my twentieth strike, I stop, rising my hand to the orb. After a moment, massive waves of light are unleashed.

The Hockomonkey is defeated.

The large Dream Eater roars in agony. It stumbles back, crashes to the ground, slowly fading away. Once it's completely gone, we all collapse in exhaustion.

"Oh man...That was close." Sora says.

"Fighting the Dream Eaters in the real world is harder then I thought." Riku says.

"Agreed...Even I'm at my limit." I say.

As we're on our knees exhausted, shimmering light appears right over our heads. We look up. To our surprise, it's a Keyhole.

"There! The first keyhole!" Riku says.

"Let's do this." Sora says.

All together, we get back on our feet, aim our Keyblades for the Keyblade. Each of them shoots light into the Keyhole. With the clicking sound, the Keyhole is locked and it glows in a bright light, getting brighter and brighter until it's blinding.

Once the light clears, all the Dream Eaters are gone, and the Nightmare in the broken sky vanished. This world is back to normal.

"We did it!" Sora says, raising his Keyblade.

"Don't get too excited, we only have twelve more to go." I say. "There'll be time for celebration later."

Aqua wheels towards us. Once we're gathered, we're all cautious. A faint sound hits our ears. The sound of...clapping. Very slow. Clap...Clap...Clap.

We look around for the source of the clapping, until Sora finds it on the wall on top of the corner fountain. We're all on alert, it's the mysterious man in the mask.

"My. My...I must say, I'm actually impressed." He says.

"You!" I brace myself to attack. "You're that man from the tournament! Are you working with the Shadowmoon!?"

The mysterious man laughs. "...Oh, no. You are sadly mistaken." He snaps his fingers. For a second, we thought Dream Eaters are going to appear. But instead, seven corridors. Each of them, the Nobodies of my people come out.

Xalrune  
Rexpet  
Exodus  
Sixteen  
Xanamad  
Lexsane  
Xander

"Behold! My team: The Onyx Nightmare!" Saying that, his mask exhales steam.

"The Onyx Nightmare?" Sora asks.

"I've never heard of such a thing. Not even in the Realm of Darkness." Aqua says.

"We are a small secret organization. Hiding out in the deepest of the dark nightmarish abyss." The mysterious man says.

"I could care less about your people." I say. "What I want to know is..." I suddenly stop.

I'm in my thought. I sudden start to realize something. Sora, Riku and Aqua notice my lost expression, but doesn't say anything. What I've been wondering since the moment I met him six months ago. Who is he? Then it hits me.

"Ventus..." I whispered.

"What did you say?" Riku asks.

"The name..."

It all comes to me. This man has a connection to Ventus. The way the kid reacted when he made his first appearance. The feeling he should know him but he doesn't really know who he is, he even wields a Keyblade and fights like Ventus. Plus, on the night of the Keyblade War Tournament, after I defeated him, he had his Keyblade at my throat, and whispered to me his name.

"I should have known when he given me his name." I open my eyes, giving a stern look directly at him. "Xusvent...You're Ventus's Nobody!"

Me saying that sends everyone else speechless, especially Aqua. Xusvent is silent at first, then speaks. "You are certainly slow for someone in the fast lane." Mechanical breathing then exhale steam through the teeth. "That is right...I am the Nobody of Ventus."

"I never knew Ventus had a Nobody." Aqua says.

"But...that's impossible. He never turned into a Heartless." Riku's serious at first, then looks at Aqua and I confused. "Did he...?"

"No, He didn't. But he did lose his heart once." I say. "Don't you remember...He destroyed the χ-blade that he and Vanitas turned into. By doing that, his heart left him, sending him into a deep slumber." I look directly back at Xusvent. "Just what are you plotting?"

"That's something for me to know...and for you to never find out." Xusvent says. "You may have found one of the Keyblades, but you will never find the rest. If I were you four, I would give up before trying to digging deep into the darkness. For all who dares interfere with our work, shall be drowned into the Nightmarish Abyss!"

Xusvent turns and vanishes into the shadowy mists, then one by one, the rest of the Onyx Nightmare disappears.

The four of us are left speechless, while glaring at the place Xusvent was even through he is no longer there. Onyx Nightmare...whoever they are, we all know it's bad.

They must be stopped.


	5. Tailoring

**A/N: None of you guys probably saw that mysterious figure was really Ventus's Nobody, did yea. Personally, I think he probably might. Ventus never turned into a Heartless, but Kairi didn't and yet she has a Nobody. Naminé. It happened because she lost her heart. Ventus fell into a similar condition because of the χ-blade. I'd say it could be possible he has a Nobody, but since Square Enix added the Dream World, maybe it was created in the dream world since the loss of his heart put him to sleep.**

 **It just makes sense to me. If you're reading this SnowEmbrace, what do you think?**

World: Castle of Dreams

* * *

I should have known that Ventus would have a Nobody. It completely slipped my mind.

Master Yen Sid said that a Nobody is created when a person of a strong heart or will turns into a Heartless. Ventus has a strong heart, but he never turned into a Heartless. I never figured a Nobody would have happened, and yet Kairi has one but all that's happened to her was she lost her heart.

But that's nothing to worry about.

Right now, Cinderella is looking at the palace right outside of the window in her room, which is the attic in a mansion.

Cinderella lives with her stepmother and stepsisters, and they all treat her terribly, mainly after when Cinderella lost her father. But she has dreams about going to the ball and meet her prince charming. It's like she always says: A dream is a wish that will come true.

"Cinderally! Cinderally!" A mouse rushes out of a hole and hurries towards Cinderella. Cinderella notices her little friend as he climbs up on the bed. "Come on! Gotta flurry! Gotta flurry!"

"Now Jaq. What's all the fuss about?" Cinderella asks Jaq cheerfully.

"Somebody new in the house! Somebody never saw rafore!" Jaq says.

Cinderella seems excited. Then again, hard to tell when she's all kindful. "Oh a new friend? Where is he?"

"In a trap-trap. Down the stairs!" Jaq says.

And now Cinderella worries when Jaq brings that up. "Oh dear." Then she makes for the door to head downstairs.

Meanwhile, Sora, Riku, Aqua and I are all trapped. That's right. It's the rat trap that's set in the dressing room. I'm just leaning against the cage wall, while Sora is pacing around, and Riku is trying to break us out of here. I grow bored of Riku trying to break us out.

"Don't bother wasting your energy. It's no use." I say.

"Well we've got to do something." Riku says.

Aqua looks concern. "Aren't you guys wondering how we got so small?"

Aqua has a point. The room is incredibly large, as well as the cage. We're pretty much down to the size of a mouse. "Have we...entered a world of giants?" Sora asks, sounding astonished and shocked in the end.

"Don't be ridiculous. There's no such thing as Giants worlds." I say.

The door opens and slams. "Shh. Someone's coming." Riku whispers.

We lay low, keep quiet. A women approaches to the trap. To our surprise, we realize who she is. Cinderella lifts the trap, but tilts it back too far, we all end up rolling and crashing on the end.

"Don't be afraid." Cinderella says as she opens the door. Cinderella looks at each of us and she's surprise. "Oh? Sora? Patrick? Is that you?"

"Cinderella?" Sora asks.

"How did you two get so small?" Cinderella asks.

"You tell us. We came to this world this way." I say.

"Oh dear...Jaq. You better explain things to them." Cinderella sets the trap down. We were able to get back on our feet, and then the mouse Jaq walks right in.

"Now, now, now. Look a-little guys. Take her easy. Not a worry bout. We like you. Cinderelly likes a-you too. She's a-nice, very nice-nice." Cinderella smiles down on us. Sora and I know about Cinderella, but Riku and Aqua are not. "Come on now. Zugk-Zugk."

Jaq walks right out of the cage, and we make our exit as well. "Name is Jaq."

"I'm Sora." Sora says.

"Riku." Riku says.

"The name's Patrick, and this is Aqua." I say.

"Zugk-Zugk, friends-friends. Need a-sathing, ask a-Jaq." Jaq tells us. Now nice for a mouse to give us a warm welcome.

Sadly, Cinderella can't give us much of her own. She's being called. "Cinderella!"

"Oh well, time to get to my chores." Cinderella stands up. "I'll see you all in a little while." Then she leaves the room.

"Well, I see she's got her hands full." Sora says. "Never expected a Princess to do housework."

I cross my arms, not even taking my eyes off the door Cinderella went too. "Can't say I'm surprised. When I met Belle, she was living in a small farmhouse in a village, then starts living with a beast."

"Yep. Work, work, work. Stepmother keeps Cinderelly busy all day!" Jaq says.

"Well, she didn't seem to mind much." Aqua says.

"Says the women who did most of the castle work while taking care of a child." I say. Aqua really did had a lot of trouble back then. I didn't have the personality to realize it, but now I do. "I'm pretty sure you mind a lot."

Aqua looks at me, partly hurt. "Well...yea. But you were worth it, Patrick." Of course I knew that, otherwise I've be tossed back in that river where I was found.

"Either way, I'm surprised she doesn't mind." Riku says.

"Oh no, not Cinderelly. She work a-hard. Got a dream. Big a-dream. Dream gonna come true." Jaq says. Hearing that, Aqua and I smiled, mostly Aqua.

"Reminds you of someone?" Aqua asks me.

"Who else?" I summon my Keyblade and raise it with pride. Speaking in a way of imitating Terra. "Being a Keyblade Master is all I've dream about." That makes Aqua laugh, Riku is confused and Sora is a bit bummed.

"Come on. Follow me. Gotta see the house!" Jaq wonders onward, and the rest of us follows him into the mouse hole.

It's surprising. Inside the mouse hole is well constructed. They can literally go anywhere around the house, and now Jaq is taking us upwards to Cinderella's room. Sadly, they're not smart enough to make an elevator. Getting Aqua up the steps and mountains of rubble is going to be difficult.

I had to use Zero Gravity to help with the lifting of the wheelchair. In the end when we're right outside of Cinderella's room, the Zero Gravity wears off, and ends up crushing Riku.

"Oh dear." Aqua says. Sora helps remove the wheel and set it up, and I place Aqua back on it.

We enter Aqua's room. We settle in while waiting for Cinderella while she's still doing her chores.

Sora and Riku at standing on the windowsill while I'm with Aqua on the dresser. Sora and Riku have noticed the skies of the world are just like how it was in Traverse Town: Cracks and broken openings in redish black color. The Nightmare is here. I'm doing some healing spells on Aqua's legs to numb most of the minor pain she's feeling. The Paralysis Medicine is beginning to wear off.

"What's that over there?" Riku asks. He and Sora are looking at the large castle in the distance.

"That's a-palace. King's palace! donna be big ball tonight!" Jaq says.

The mention of the ball has caught Aqua's attention. "Really? I've always wanted to go to the ball."

I speak without taking my attention or focus off my healing. "Oh yeah? Well, being ten inches high, I doubt that's going happen." After speaking, I finished my healing. "How's that? Any better?"

Aqua feels her legs. "Eh. More or less."

"Well, what about Cinderella? Is she going?" Sora asks.

Jaq sighs, mix of doubt and disappointment. "Don't know."

Just then, Cinderella walks in. "Hello everyone. Have you become friends already?" We never really say anything, but Sora and Aqua smiles, Riku and I are mostly in silence. Cinderella takes out a dress and sets it on a body mannequin. "Oh that's wonderful." It's like the girl can read minds, or she's always staying on the positive side. Either way, it's creepy, yet the second one makes sense.

Cinderella happily hums a song while she's working on her dress. "You sure seem happy, Cinderella." Sora says.

Cinderella turns, facing the five of us. "I'm going to the royal ball tonight." Cinderella lets out a high sigh then looks up with her hands closed. "I guess dreams really do some true."

And like all dreams, they must end. "Cinderella!"

The stepmother is calling for her. "Well, my dress will have to wait."

"Cinderella!"

"Cinderella!"

Finally, Cinderella heads out. "All right. All right. I'm coming."

Jaq is disappointed. "Poor cinderelly. She not go to ball."

"Really? Why not?" Riku asks.

"You see. They fix her. Work, work, work. She'll never get her dress done." Jaq explains. It's all true. There's no way she'll have the time. Then Jaq's light bulb goes on. "Say. Got an ide. Friend-friend help a-Jaq?"

"With...what exactly?" I ask, curious.

"Fix Cinderelly dress for the ball!" Jaq says.

We don't say anything, just exchange looks. I can't imagine how we're able to do that. Not just because we're small, but we don't have any tailoring experience. Well, Aqua might and I'm more of a Basket-weaver.

"Okay...How will we do that?" Sora asks.

"Look around house. Lots of pretty-pretty things." Jaq says.

"All right. We'll gather the materials." I turn to Aqua. "Aqua, you stay here and help Jaq with anything he needs."

Aqua agrees. Sora, Riku and I hop off from the windowsill, then Jaq warns us. "Friend-friends. Carefy Roos-a-fee."

We all look at him confused. "Roos-a-fee? What is that?" I ask.

"Sounds like a type of plant to me." Riku says.

"An exterminator maybe?" Sora asks.

"What kind of exterminator be named Roos-a-fee? That just sounds stupid." I say.

"Roos-a-fee a cat-cat. Mean, sneaky, jump at you, bite at you." Jaq says.

We are to look around the house for certain items:

A white sash  
White lace  
A white button  
Pink fabric  
Pink thread

With the information, we head out into the dressing room. We take a look around the dressing room. The second we enter, we are surround by Dream Eaters. There are new ones too. Swiss Vermin. Mouse Dream Eaters dressed as soldiers. I feel like we're living in Nutcracker.

The Dream Eaters fall easily, since Aqua's not around for us to worry and protect. Not only that, but they're just as small as we are. "Great! Now we have Dream Eaters AND giant cats to watch out." I groan in irritation. "I hate being small."

"Let's just find the materials and then search for the Keyhole." Riku says.

We search all over the room, sometimes travel through multiple mouse holes to travel into difficult and high places. But still, Dream Eaters got in our way. It was nothing for us to worry. We still handled them.

One-by-one, we gathered the materials. But since they're large, we had to deliver them back, one at a time. With each visit back to the room, we notice how well Jaq and Aqua are handling with making the dress.

We finally brought back the last item. It was a big of a pain, but worth it. "Still needs a pretty-pretty pearl." Jaq tells us.

"All right. We're on it." I say.

We return to the dressing room, in hurry since we don't have much time left. Cinderella is almost done with her chores and it's almost time for the ball. We make it down the mouse hole. Only once we're out the door, I stopped, then Sora then Riku bummed into me and I push everyone back into the mouse hole.

We carefully look out the hole. In the center, is a large cat soundly asleep with a pearl necklace. Lucifer.

"Oh boy...You guys think that's the cat?" Riku asks.

"Unless it's one very ugly, and rather small, bear skin rug, then I'm guessing he is." I say.

Sora has his eyes on the necklace. "How are we gonna get the pearls without him noticing?"

I take a look at the situation. The cat is asleep, and has no firm grip of the necklace. The nightstand and tables have mouse holes on top. Large balls of yarn. "Okay...I have a plan."

I huddle up with Sora and Riku an explain to them the plan.

Sora and I position ourselves to high ground. The plan is Riku sneaks in and takes the necklace. If the cat awakes, Sora and I will attack from above, at least distract it off long enough for Riku to escape with the pearls.

Sora and I look down, very carefully. Riku sneaks towards the cat. Quiet walk at the start, then tie toes halfway through. We hope Lucifer doesn't wake up while we get the pearl necklace.

Finally, Riku grabs the necklace by a pearl. He checks the cat to make sure it's still asleep, even wave his hand in front of its face. I slap my head in disappointment, then mouthed 'Get out of there!' Riku notices my mouthing and then sneaks away.

Just his luck. Lucifer wakes up. The cat spots Riku and prepares to make his attack, while Riku remains unaware of the large cat about to swipe him.

"Riku! Look out!" Sora throws a ball of yarn on the cat, drawing his attention. "Hurry! Get out!" Riku runs for it. Sora and I throw a couple of balls of yarn and spells on the cat. Lucifer runs around the room to avoid the balls and tiny magic.

I take out the Hexicon and being a wind spell. Razor Wind. "Nam et fulgur cum uelox mens, eodemque cultello vim venti!" A green magic circle appears in front of me and shoots dozens of wind needles, shooting as fast as lightning.

The wind needles hits Lucifer. The cat is fast but not fast enough to dodge the spell. Lucifer hisses at the impalements, and he slams against the nightstand. The whole thing shakes and Sora ends up falling. Now he's in danger of facing Lucifer.

Sora summons his Keyblade and faces the cat. He attacks and avoids. Lucifer has Sora cornered. Just when he's about to bounce, I leap and land right on the cats face. Lucifer howls and runs around as he tries to shake and swipe me off. But I hang on tight, punching and kicking the cat with his free hand and feet.

In the end, I dangle by the whiskers until it snaps. Luficer howls painfully. I think I made him mad. Lucifer pounds his paws on me. I avoid his attacks at high speed and counterattack in every third swipe.

Lucifer hisses. His pulls back and thrusts himself towards me for a powerful bite. I stand my ground, prepare for his attack, until Sora outsmarts the cat and pulls his tail in the way.

Lucifer ends up chomping his own tail. Ouch.

Lucifer instantly switches to in agony, the cat howl as it bursts into the air. "Quickly! Run!" Sora says, and the two of us make a run for the mouse hole.

After returning the necklace to Jaq, we continue our work on the dress. Aqua and Jaq were able to do most of the work, the three of us just lend them a hand, especially Aqua.

Finally, the dress is done.

"Rat's a-big thank you!" Jaq says.

"No need to thank us. We help each other out because we're friends. That's what friends do." Sora says.

"Zugk-Zugk. Sora-Sora friends good friends." Jaq says.

Cinderella returns to her room. It's time to leave for the ball, she finished all of her chores, but she is not going because she doesn't have a dress for the ball. She just sits by the windowsill staring at the palace.

"Oh, well...What's a royal ball?" I don't think any of us ever seen Cinderella down like this. "After all, I suppose it would be frightfully dull and boring...and completely..." Who is she kidding? Not herself. "Completely wonderful."

Cinderella gazes to the palace. Dreaming of her chance to going to the ball, which is too bad since she's not going...or is she?

"Cinderella!" Cinderella turns her attention to the wardrobe., where Sora called her out to. She's completely shocked and surprised. As we open the doors, it reveals her dress.

"Is that my dress?" For a girl who believes in dreams can come true, she cannot believe at what she's seeing.

"Indeed. A present from all of us." I say.

"Now you have a dress for the ball." Aqua adds.

Cinderella approaches, sets her hands down in front of us. We climb on and Cinderella lifts us to her level. "Why it's...it's such a surprise."

"Flurry-Flurry! Time a go, Cinderally!" Jaq says.

In a hurry, Cinderella gets dressed and makes it out the door. We all sit on the windowsill. Jaq and Aqua watches the palace, Sora's a bit spaced while Riku and I look at the Nightmarish sky.

"Jaq-Jaq a-hope Cinderally's dream come true." Jaq says.

Aqua touches her heart. "I hope so as well."

I would as well, but at the moment. I doubt it. "With the sorry state the world is in right now, I doubt it will be." I turn my attention to everyone. "The Nightmare is still spreading, and I'm sure it's out to devour dreams...especially Cinderella's."

"What are you suggesting we do?" Riku asks.

"We don't know where the Keyhole is, so I suggest we follow Cinderella...for now." I say.

"How are we gonna do that? We're down to the size of a mouse." Sora says as he gestures to Jaq in the end.

"We'll improvise." I say. "Now let's get going."


	6. Royal Ball

**A/N: Castle of Dreams seems like an accurate world to visiting when the Nightmare invades the real world, doesn't it. It's clearly written in the title: "Castle of Dreams" The darkness wants to turn it into "Castle of Nightmares"**

World: Castle of Dreams

* * *

It's a long climb from Cinderella's house to the chateau of Lady Tremaine's mansion. Should I even call it Tremaine's place? It's orginally Cinderella's, stepmother or not.

Aqua holds on tight to me as I climb down. Sora and Riku are both right above me. About six feet close to the ground, I jump and land on my feet. I look up, horrified as I watch the wheelchair falling right above my head. I jump back, barely avoiding the crash.

"Hey! Watch where you're dropping that!" I scold at Jaq from a distance.

"Sorry-sorry!" Jaq shouts back.

I groan as I set the wheelchair back on its wheels, then place Aqua on it. By then, Sora and Riku jump down. We're probably not going to be able to get far being ten inches tall. A walk to the kings palace will be like trying to run 50 miles.

Just when we leave the chateau, we hear crying. We look to see the person who is crying is Cinderella, laying against the bench in front of the fountain. What's worse, her dress is a complete mess. All that hard work and trouble we went through putting it together: Wasted. What could have happened? I have a feeling this is the work of her evil stepfamily.

Riku gets on my shoulders and Sora gets on Riku's, so he can climb up on the bench to get noticed. "Cinderella?" Cinderella pauses the waterworks to look at Sora. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Hello, Sora." She saids in between the sobs. "It's just that you guys went through the trouble to make me the most beautiful dress...but my stepmother and stepsisters ruined it."

I heard the whole thing and I'm a bit ticked. "The nerve of those cold hearted!"

At least I'm too small to be heard, the last thing Cinderella needs under all that despair is my contained rage. "And I was so looking forward to the ball." Cinderella buries her face in the bench and continues crying.

Riku approaches to Cinderella, puts a hand on her arm. "Darkness always finds a way into a wounded heart. Believe me, I know. You have to be strong. Strength of heart will carry you through the hardest of trials."

Hearing Riku's words put me through the same thought. I have been through a lot in the last fifteen years when I've lost Aqua. Even so, his words can't get through to her. "But I...I can't believe...not anymore."

We all feel bad for Cinderella. I feel bad on the inside. "Great! Just great! Can this day get any worse?" I ask

Just our luck, Dream Eaters appear. This time, they're not small. They're large. Normal sized. We're all on alert and astonished. "I think it just did." Aqua says. Flobwermeow and Necho Cats.

I summon my Keyblades, Sora and Riku don't prepare themselves for combat at all. "They are too many of them! To big!" Sora says.

The Dream Eaters set their sights on Cinderella. The sad princess doesn't notice the nightmare creatures right behind her, about to ambush her. They all leap, but they suddenly freeze just when the air starts to sparkle in magic.

That has the four of us confused. "Strength of heart is important, but that's not all you need."

Magic begins to gather. "There's nothing left to believe in...nothing." Cinderella says in doubt.

A figure takes form on the bench where Cinderella is crying. Her face now meets the lap of someone. "Nothing, my dear? Oh, now, you don't really mean that."

The Fairy Godmother begins to take form. "Oh but I do. It's just no use."

Sora and I are both speechless. "Nonsense! If you'd lost all your faith, I couldn't be here, and here I am." Fairy Godmother says to Cinderella. Cinderella looks up at Fairy Godmother, surprised and confused. "Oh, come now." Fairy Godmother helps Cinderella stand. "Dry those tears."

"The Fairy Godmother." Sora and I says. We're familiar with her, she started living with Merlin when Castle of Dreams once fell to darkness.

"Who are..." Cinderella wonders.

"There will be time for introductions later. But I believe we have more matters to affair." Fairy Godmother says. Cinderella turns, and she is pretty in shocked to see the frozen Dream Eaters, which are slowly starting to thew from being frozen in time. "My magic can't hold them off much longer. We need to find some suitable protectors. Uh, let's see..."

Fairy Godmother looks around until she sets her eyes on us. "Oh. Perfect." Fairy Godmother takes out her wind, but thinks in her thought. "Now, what were those magic words?"

The Dream Eaters are starting to move faster. "Not exactly the right time for thinking." I say.

"Oh yes." Now she remembers, and then she works her magic. Literally. "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!" The magic sprinkles all over the ofur of us. Next thing we know, we beging to grow, up until we're back to the right size.

"Yes!" I say with excitement.

Just then, the Dream Eaters are free, and Cinderella screams in horror. She cowers and Riku rushes in and blocks with Dark Shield, just when the Dream Eaters made contact. Whole the creatures are staggered from being blocked, Sora and I leap in and slam our light enhanced Keyblades in the ground, in the middle of the crowd of Dream Eaters.

The ground enhances in light energy, up to the form of a circle, cracks and powerful light energy bursts out of the earth. Destroying the Dream Eaters.

Cinderella expects to get devoured by the darkness, but instead, she's fine. She looks to see Riku, Sora and I are all in the normal size and the Dream Eaters are gone.

"Oh yeah. Feels good to be big again." I say.

Cinderella smiles, even under he desperation. "Now then...Let's get you fixed up." Fairy Godmother says. "You can't go to the ball looking like that."

"The ball?" Cinderella looks down at her dress. "Oh, but I'm not..."

I interrupt Cinderella. "Don't even think of it, princess. You're going to that ball and we are all gonna help to get you there."

"He is right, my dear." Fairy Godmother says. "Let us hurry." Fairy Godmother handles her wand and works her magic. "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!" She shoots a magic star through the garden until it finds a pumpkin. The pumpkin comes to live and bounces into the forest. Fairy Godmother uses her magic to transform the pumpkin into a beautiful carriage.

Cinderella is pretty amazed with it, I'm impressed myself. "She has got to teach me how to do that." I tell Aqua.

Fairy Godmother notices Cinderella's ruined dress and does a little magic on it. Transforming Cinderella's torn up dress into a beauitful one. More elegant then the previous one. Put us to shame.

"Oh...It's a beautiful dress." Cinderella says. Cinderella hurries to the fountain to get a look at her reflection. "Why...it's a dream come true."

I look up at the nightmarish sky hearing that. Saying that, Dream Eaters will be raining down upon her. "Yes, but like all dreams...I'm afraid this can't last forever." Fairy Godmother warns Cinderella. "You'll have only till midnight, and then, on the stroke of twelve the spell will be broken, and everything will be as it was before."

Cinderella smiles as she walks to her Fairy Godmother and hugs her. "Yes, I understand."

"We better hurry if we want to get you to that ball." Aqua says.

"Of course. Immediately." Cinderella says.

Cinderella gets into the carriage. Sora and Riku goes in with her, I ride on my Hoverbike with Aqua as my passenger. I believe this is her first time ever riding my Hoverbike. She's pretty excited.

We arrive at the Palace Courtyard. Cinderella gets out, then Sora and Riku leave after her. The royal palace is just in front of her, she's this close to making her dreams come true. Like all dreams, reality strikes. Dream Eaters make an appearance, surrounding us.

"Oh dear. Not again." Cinderella says.

"Don't worry." I say as Sora, Riku and I ready ourselves. "Your knights in shining armor are here to protect you, princess."

We all charge in and take on the Dream Eaters. Sora and Riku go far facing the creatures, I stay behind, close to Cinderella and Aqua to protect them, but I offer the Dream Eaters a taste of Hexicon magic. Once the path is clear, we escort Cinderella to the palace. Cinderella even offered to pull Aqua while we handle the minions of the Nightmare.

Eventually, we make it to the palace doors. "Oh...it's finally time. My dream come true." Cinderella says.

We enter the palace. Everything seems clear, but that doesn't soften my guard. There are Dream Eaters here, I can feel it. We take the first few steps inside the palace, and then they appear.

Swiss Vermin. Necho Cat and Ducky Goose.

Cinderella gasps. "Oh no. Not here too."

"We got them." Riku says.

We escort Cinderella through the hallway. She stays at a safe distance to avoid being attacked by the Dream Eaters. I move quick with my two Keyblades. Sora and Riku take the sides while I handle the middle line.

Every row of Dream Eaters defeated, Aqua and Cinderella follows us.

After crossing the hallway, we enter the foyer. The whole area is crawling with Dream Eaters. I wait out in the hallway with Cinderella while Sora and Riku attack the Dream Eaters. Once they clear all the Dream Eaters by the door, that's when we come in and I join in on the assault.

The entrance to the ballroom is up the stairs. Sora covers the left ground, Riku takes the right ground. I escort Cinderella up the stairs. Sora and Riku had it easy with the Dream Eaters. They are mostly coming after Cinderella. When they're done, they rejoin me up on the stairs.

The spawning point of Dream Eaters becomes intense. We stay close to Cinderella and Aqua to protect them. We are close to our destination. Which makes me wonder if the Ballroom is really safe from the Dream Eaters.

Finally, we defeated all of the Dream Eaters and take Cinderella to the Ballroom.

The prince stands in the middle with Cinderella's stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella. "Oh, well thank you everyone. You've done so much for me."

"It was nothing." Sora says.

Sora, Riku and I stand aside. We fall give a small bow and gesture Cinderella to proceed. Cinderella and Aqua laughs, still, Cinderella is flattered. She walks into the ballroom. The prince notices the beautiful princess. He abandons the stepsisters and offers Cinderella a dance.

And dance they do. The Duke is pretty excited to see the prince find his true love.

Sora, Riku, Aqua and I stand on the side and watch. Nice to see a dream made come true in this broken nightmare of a world. Aqua smiles seeing the dance, she slightly looks down at her legs, putting a hand on her thigh. "Maybe...believing is just enough." I notice Aqua's saying, I put a hand on her shoulder knowing she's talking about that she'll one day walk again.

Anastasia and Drizella are both not very happy that their prince is with someone else.

"Who is she, mother?" Anastasia asks.

"Do we know her?" Drizella asks.

"Well, the Prince certainly seems to. I've never seen her before." Anastasia says.

Lady Tremaine looks puzzled. "Nor I. But she certainly is..." then it hit her. "Wait! There is something familiar about her..."

I have my eyes set on Lady Tremaine. That expression on her face. I know it means something corruptive. however, she's the last of our problems. As Cinderella and the prince dances, an arrow is shot down. Really startled Cinderella and the prince.

Certainly has all four of us concern. We look up. Based on the direction the arrow is pointing, we look and see it was shoot from the balcony on the right. "Is Exodus late for party time?"

It's my uncle Douse. His Nobody, Exodus. "The Onyx Nightmare!" Sora says.

The Duke is not too pleased with someone crashing the party. "Guards! Guards! Ooh, where could they possibly be?"

"Sorry, but your friends are preoccupied. But don't worry, my minions can keep you both entertained." Exodus snaps his fingers. Next thing they know, Dream Eaters have surrounded Cinderella and the prince.

In a burst of speed, I rush in and activate my D-link with Chantal. I leap high, my main Keyblade out and unleash a dive attack with a wave of light energy in its wake. Upon that attack, the Dream Eaters focuses their attacks on me. Riku and Sora joins in. Riku attacks in his Darkest Fear style.

Riku and I are both fast and powerful against the Dream Eaters. But we still have Sora's help against the nightmarish creatures. Riku jumps on one of the Dream Eaters. Two comes after him. He jumps off and the two Dream Eaters end up attacking the Swiss Vermin he was on, then Sora strikes the two down from behind.

Half a dozen of Flowbermeows pounces towards me. I gather them with Magnet, and once they're caught on my trap, I unleash Quakera to finish them. "Earth!"

Sora cuts down his Dream Eaters. He becomes cornered by a Pegaslick. He readies to attack, but instead I leap on it and grab hold if it from behind. The Pegaslick was sure startled, tries to shake me off even.

Sora and Riku finish off the rest of the Dream Eaters while I handle this one Pegaslick. I finish it off by cut it head off with a X slash. Sora, Riku and I are a bit exhausted.

"Is that all of them?" Sora asks.

"Yeah. That's all of them...hopefully." I say.

Luckily, the Dream Eaters didn't harm Cinderella or her prince. In fact, they're both underneath the Balcony, having some time alone. I suddenly turn serious and look right on the Balcony. To my disappointment, nobody is there.

"Damn it. Exodus is gone." I say.

"Don't worry. We will find the Onyx Nightmare and stop them." Riku says.

He's right. Even so, I still need to save my people. Destroy their Nobodies and hopefully they'll return to normal like half of the Organization and Terra did.

As we wonder what to do this, the sound of a tower clock chimes. It's midnight.


	7. Glass Slipper

**A/N: Fairy godmother sure does have a thing with curfews doesn't she? It's now midnight and Cinderella needs to get back room before the spell is broken. Why would a prince want to date and marry a housemaid Don't ask me, ask makers of Cinderella.**

World: Castle of Dreams

* * *

Hearing the clock chimes have us all concern. Fairy Godmother told Cinderella that at the stroke of twelve, the spell will be broken. We are hoping that it's not really midnight, but Cinderella's alert told us our hopes are folly.

"Oh my goodness! It's midnight!" Cinderella says.

The prince doesn't seem to understand Cinderella's situation. "Yes, so it is, but why..."

Cinderella doesn't have time to come up with an explanation or an excuse. "Good-bye." She just makes a run for it.

"Wait!" She doesn't listen to the prince's call. "Come back! Please come back!"

We don't bother to follow Cinderella, but the Duke just chases after her. As Cinderella runs down the steps, a glass slipper falls behind. Cinderella stops to get it, but realizes the Duke is chasing her, she leaves it and makes a run for it.

"Mademoiselle!" The duke stops to pick up the slipper. "Señorita! Wait!"

And Cinderella is gone. The four of us watch the whole escape from the stop of the staircase. "Well, that went south." I say as I fold my arms.

"Still. It looked like she was having fun." Sora says.

That's true. Cinderella did enjoy having her dreams come true. We look to see Lady Tremaine and her daughters are now leaving the ball. They are certainly not pleased that the prince didn't choose one of them, the daughters. On my part, I just hope that haven't figured out that was Cinderella.

Finally, the Duke returned with the glass slipper. "Your highness, I found this on the palace stairs." Hearing that has gotten our attention. We look and listen in to what the duke and the prince are saying.

"A glass slipper?" The prince wonders.

"One dropped by the lovely young lady." The duke says. We all exchange looks. That would only mean they'll find out who Cinderella is. "And I'll search far and wide to find the maiden to whom this belongs."

"You will?" The prince sounds a bit surprised.

"Of course, your highness." The duke says. "After all, you have finally found someone whom you wish to marry. Upon hearing that happy news, your father, the king, has decreed that a quest shall begin immediately throughout the kingdom." That's certainly a lot for one evening. "And I will start with the closest residence, that of Lady Tremaine."

And now the Duke is off on his quest. We stand by watching him. We think about this situation carefully. "They're going to find Cinderella...That's great right?" Sora asks.

"I don't think so. There could be a lot of interferences in this." Riku says.

"Riku has a point. Cinderella was a princess when she was dancing with the prince, but now she's back to being a housemaid." I say. "Not to mention if Lady Tremaine finds out they're looking for Cinderella, she'll stop at nothing to prevent Cinderella from being noticed."

"Let's not forget, the Nightmare is still infecting this world." Riku says.

"Indeed." I say. "Let's hurry back to the mansion. Make sure Cinderella is okay."

Sora, Riku and Aqua agrees.

We leave the palace and make our way back to Cinderella's home. It's going to be a long travel since we no long have the carriage is now reduced to a beaten down pumpkin. I still have my Hoverbike, but it can't ride four. Only two, the driver and passenger.

Once we arrive on the courtyard, it's filled with a full army of Dream Eaters. "Oh good grief." I say.

"Something tells me they know what we're up to." Aqua says.

"Yeah, well they're not getting in my way." I summon my two Keyblades. I am still in D-link with Chantal, so they well feel my wrath of musical magic.

Sora and Riku joins in on the assault as well. The Dream Eaters fall so quickly by our combine power. Sora gathers the remaining Dream Eaters with Magnet, and Riku and I both unleash Darkest Fears and Harmony's Heart, and all of the Dream Eaters in the courtyard were wiped out.

With a moments haste, we hurried towards Cinderella's house.

I honestly don't know what to worry most for Cinderella's dream: That Lady Tremaine would stop her or the Dream Eaters will devour Cinderella, turning her life into a living nightmare.

I'm gonna have to go with the Dream Eaters. Once we get everything under control, we must find the Keyhole and lock it.

Finally, we all return to the chateau. The royal carriage is here, so that means the duke beat us to it. We look around the yard for anything suspicious. "No sign of any Dream Eaters." Riku says.

"You think the duke found Cinderella?" Sora asks.

We face the door as we hear Lady Tremaine speak. "You honor our humble home, m'lord. May I present my daughters: Drizella and Anastasia."

Drizella and Anastasia. And it's the stepmother who's hosting the duke. "I'm gonna say no to that." I say. I about to approach and open the doors, until...

"Wait!" We're all surprised by the voice. We turn to see magic taking form. Fairy Godmother makes an appearance. "It's dangerous to fight the darkness here, my dear."

"Fairy Godmother." I step down from the porch. "Why would you tell us not to fight the darkness here?"

"Strong rays of sun create dark shadows." Is all she says before he explains everything.

Lady Tremaine and both of her daughters are jealous of Cinderella's charm and beauty. It's no surprise, they're all hideous inside and out. They make Quasimodo more attractive. They're jealousy is darkness and it feeds upon Cinderella's light.

"You can't have one without the other." Fairy Godmother finishes.

"Indeed that is true, Fairy Godmother. I myself carry the powers of light and darkness to become strong." I say.

"Powers of light and dark alone doesn't make you strong, just powerful." Fairy Godmother says.

"Ms. Fairy Godmother. What should we do if we can't fight the darkness that surrounds Cinderella?" Riku asks.

"Just Fairy Godmother is all right, dear. It's quite simple: Jaq is trying very hard to keep Cinderella's light from fading. I want you to join and help him." Fairy Godmother says.

I am not too pleased to hear that. I sigh in depression. "Great. We're going have to be small again. Are you sure there isn't any other way?"

Fairy Godmother doesn't answer, but Anastasia shouting makes our time run short. "I can't understand why! It always fir perfectly before!"

"Quite enough of this. The next young lady, please." The duke says.

"Oh no? Did you hear that? We better hurry." Sora says.

"Oh fine. We'll go help Jaq." I say. "Aqua, you stay here and keep the duke from leaving."

"How can I do that?" Aqua asks.

"I don't know. Just think of something." I say.

Once we are ready, Fairy Godmother uses her magic to transport us into the house, at the size of a mouse once again. Back in the dressing room, we appear. We found Jaq heading for the mousehole, struggling while he is dragging a large key.

"Jaq." Jaq stops as he is surprised to see us.

"Oh! Friend-friends! Glad you here! Friends help a-Jaq?" Jaq says.

"What's the situation?" I ask.

Jaq explains to us that Lady Tremaine discovered that Cinderella is the girl who was dancing with the prince, and that she has locked Cinderella in her room. Now Jaq is trying to get the key to Cinderella.

"Why those miserable little!" I'm in anger for a second, then I relax. "We'll deal with them later, right now Cinderella needs our help."

"Zugk-Zugk. Gotta flurry! Cinderelly's gotta try the slipper. Come on! Come on! Flurry!" Riku and I help Jaq carry the key and we hurry up. Just our luck, Dream Eaters appear. "Ah! No, no, no! I said gotta flurry!"

"I'll handle the Dream Eaters." Sora says.

Sora fights off the Dream Eaters while we hurry the key to Cinderella's room. Sora stays close to us when there are several more of them for him to handle alone. Once that happens, Riku drops the labor work and helps Sora fight them off.

"Hustle, Jaq!" I say and we both hurry over to the mouse hole. We're a feet feet away, until several move Dream Eaters appears in our way. Jaq panics, but we never stop running. "I got this!" I summon my Keyblade and do a Sliding Dash with a Zero Gravity once I'm in the Dream Eater group.

The path clears and Jaq hurries in. "Thanks, a-Patrick!"

While Jaq hurries to Cinderella's room, we finish off the Dream Eaters in this room.

Meanwhile, we're out of time. "You're the only ladies here?" The duke asks.

"There's no one else, your grace." Lady Tremaine says.

Aqua listens closely through the door. "Hurry up, guys." She whispers. Aqua knows that Cinderella's in a situation. She has to find someway to keep the duke from leaving. Stall for time.

The duke makes his leave, but suddenly stops. Behind the doors, he didn't expect there would be a lady on a wheelchair. In his hand, he holds the glass slipper. Aqua thinks fast. She looks at the slipper, then gets an idea. All thought it might not be the best in her condition.

"Oh...would it...Would it be alright...if I tried on the glass slipper?" Aqua asks. The second she says that, she wishes she had taken it back.

The duke looks at Aqua carefully, head to tie. He highly doubts she's really the young lady the prince has fallen for. "Hmm...I am sorry, but unfortunately, you are not the young lady the Prince is looking for."

"But I am a girl. I should at least be given a chance to try it on." Aqua has her eyes set on the staircase behind the duke, in hope that Cinderella will hurry up.

Lady Tremaine and the daughters are not pleased seeing Aqua at the steps of her house. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?" Drizella thinks Aqua is here to rob them, and Anastasia demands the mother to do something. "That girl does not live here. I only have two daughters. I believe we're finished here, your grace."

"Regardless. She means no harm. But quite right, we are. Good day." The duke makes his leave.

Aqua tries to stop him, but just at the neck of time. "Your Grace...Please wait!" The duke stops to see Cinderella coming down the stairs. "May I try it on?"

The duke certainly has his attention on Cinderella. Lady Tremaine tries to distract him. "Pay no attention to her. She's just an imaginative child."

"Madam, my orders were every maiden." The duke reminds Lady Tremaine.

Cinderella sits on a chair. Aqua looks up to see Sora, Riku and I are on the stop of the stairs, in normal size, watching the whole event. She smiles then turns her attention to Cinderella. The duke approaches Cinderella. Sadly, his mistake was passing my lady Tremaine, for she trips the duke, causing him to drop the slipper and it shatters.

All of us are in shocked by the sight of the situation, but I turn to anger knowing Lady Tremaine did this, on purpose too. The duke cries hopelessly at the broken slipper. "What will I do?"

Tremaine smiles in delight, knowing Cinderella is doomed. But she's sadly mistaken. "Oh please, don't worry. You see..." Cinderella takes out a glass slipper. "I have the other slipper."

Now it's Tremaine who is shocked. The duke is so happy, he takes the slipper and kisses it. Quite gross I must say myself. The second he's done admiring it, he puts it on Cinderella's foot.

A perfect fit.

"A perfect fit. I must inform the Prince immediately!" The duke says, then turns to Cinderella. "You will come with me, of course."

Cinderella would be happy to, but Lady Tremaine and her daughters would not.

Once the prince and Cinerella are gone, we all stand in the chateau, wondering where to go next. We still need to find the keyhole to banish the nightmare. Just as we wonder, we hear a distance scream for help.

"What's that?" Aqua asks.

Just then, the duke runs to us in horror. "What happened? Where is Cinderella?" Sora asks.

The duke stops in front of us, trying to catch his breath through fear and exhaustion. "Sh-she was attacked by a creature. A m-m-monster in the forest."

A monster? This is bad. We immediate hurried into the forest. We have found Cinderella on the ground, but what really shocks us is a massive Dream Eater. A large horse with hair and tail in shadowy fire.

Phantasm Dash.

And mounting on the Dream Eater is none other then Lady Tremaine, with a whip in her hand. Not only that, but Exodus of the Onyx Nightmare and Tremaines daughters are right by their side.

We help Cinderella as Tremaine laughs wickedly. "This is what happens when you go against my wishes!"

"Now you will learn there is no escape from the Nightmare!" Exodus says as he slowly shrouds in darkness and vanishes.

"Jealous just blackens the heart." I muttered. I help Cinderella stand up. "Go. We'll handle this." Cinderellea nods and hurries to safety with Aqua.

The three of us face Lady Tremaine and Phantasm Dash.

Phantasm raises on its hind legs and neighs. It stomps its front legs to the ground unleashing black fire on the ground, extending. Sora and I jump back, and Riku defends himself with Dark Shield. I shoot waterbolts at the Dream Eater as we're leaping back.

Phantasm Dash didn't enjoy the water very well. When the fire passes Riku, he faces the Dream Eater head-on. Sora and I charge in and attack as well. Lady Tremaine laughs as she uses her whip on us. I took most of the blows, take hits or block them.

Lesser Dream Eaters appears. I cast Magnet to gather those Dream Eaters. Few of them escapes and they go after Sora. Sora defends himself against those Dream Eaters and fights them.

I defeat the Dream Eaters easily then I focus on Phantasm Dash. Phantasm comes at me hard. Every stomp it makes burns the ground in blacken flames. I have the Dream Eater at a stand still by blockings it bite with my Keyblade.

Lady Tremaine laughs cruelly. "Give up, boy. Like all dreams, they well all shatter and be shallowed by the darkness."

"Big talk coming from an elderly women." I say.

Lady Tremaine is shocked to hear that. "How DARE you! I am not old!" Yikes. Now she's being denial with her age? How great...

Lady Tremaine strikes. That causes me to stagger and Phantasm Dash strikes me, knocking me back and causing me to fall unconscious. Riku takes on the Dream Eater with Darkest Fears, and Sora attacks from behind. Tremaine notices Sora and she attacks him. Sora blocks with his Keyblade, the whip coiling around it, and he pulls.

Lady Tremaine is pulled right off of the Dream Eater. I regain conscious. I notice the Dream Eater is alone against Riku. Flipping through the Hexicon pages, I stop at the ice spells and begin channeling.

"Hibernalis ira tempestas furit glacies hostes plaudam!" My right hand is coated in frost, then I punch hard on the ground in the direction of the Dream Eater, sending a fast line of icicles at it. Riku strikes twice then leaps back to avoid it's breath attack, then the ice hits it and seal its hooves to the ground.

Sora mounts on the Dream Eater, holding it straight, and that's when Riku readies his Keyblade, enhanced in dark magic, and perform Dark Zantetsuken. In an instant, he dashes at high speed, slashing that Dream Eater.

Sora jumps off as Phantasm Dash neighs in agony, and explodes in nightmare energy.

The battle is over. Not only that, but Riku learned a new command style: Vemonscythe.

After that battle, we put Lady Tremaine and her daughters in place, and was escort Cinderella to the palace. The prince is happy to find his true love, and Cinderella is just as happy to be with her Prince.

We all stand by the fountain in the courtyard watching the whole thing. "Looks like everything worked out well." Sora says.

"I guess even a single dream is strong enough to conquer a hundred nightmares." Riku says.

"Agreed." I say.

Light shines right behind us. We all turn and look up. A keyhole appears right above the tip of the fountain. The three of us summon our Keyblades, aim at the keyhole and look it. Once it's locked, light shines brightly. The world is back to normal as the light banishes away the Nightmare.

Two down. Eleven more to go.


	8. Coliseum

**A/N: The Olympus Coliseum. I bet revisiting this world is going to be pretty awkward for Patrick, after what he's done when he made that deal with Hades. But I'm sure he has nothing to worry about, Hercules did forgive him and, hopefully, probably forgot all about it.**

World: Olympus Coliseum

* * *

Hades paces around in his chambers. He grows impatient, turning from boiling hot into volcanic rage. He looks over his chess board on the table. Hercules is the only one standing at on end, with all destroyed black chess pieces that represents the monsters he's been throwing at Hercules.

"I have thrown everything at that Jerkules and he's defeated every single ONE OF THEM!" Hade slams his hands on the table, unleashing a burst of fire.

"Oh calm down, hot head." Xanamad says.

"DON'T you tell me to CALM DOWN you heartless creature!" Hades barks at Xanamad.

Xanamad shows no signs of any fear. She just chuckles quietly. "Oh, you're so cute if you think you can scare and flatter me. I wonder how you became lord of the dead. By a landslide? Cause you're not really all that." Hades sits on his throne, all made at Xanamad's insults. "Cool down. I was just teasing. Look, all jokes aside, why not just summon one of the strongest warriors from the dead?"

"I tried something like that before, and I end up losing the little puppet." Hades says, remembering what happened when he tried to use Auron.

"Are you sure there isn't one who can be so easily manipulated?" Xanamad asks.

Hades strokes his chin as he thinks carefully. "Hmm...you might actually be on to something. And I know just the warrior."

The next day, we arrive at the coliseum. I had just injected Aqua with the Paralysis Medicine.

To be honest, it feels weird returning to the Olympus Coliseum. Last time I visited, I nearly took out Hercule's life over some stupid deal I made with Hades. I just hope Aqua doesn't find out, even though it'll be all right since I decided to spare his life.

"Man. I miss the Coliseum." Sora says.

"So this is the Coliseum you've been talking about?" Riku asks. "Would be nice to try out in the tournament."

I look up at the skies. It's day time, but the skies are black red. The Nightmare is here. "The keyhole is here somewhere." I say.

"Why don't go talk to Hercules? He might know something." Sora suggests.

"That's a good idea. I wonder how he's doing after so many years." Aqua says.

I get a bit of a bad feeling about this. We walk into the lobby. It's pretty empty. Not even Phil is in here. Still, they must be here. Training and tournaments never stops for Hercules. We hear the roar of the crowd. That's when we realizing what could be happening. We walk into the arena to see a match going on.

Hercules against the molten titan and ice titan. This should be interesting.

The Ice Titan is sending hundreds of ice shards at Hercules. Hercules spins his sword fast to block the shards coming at him. Molten Titan spews molten lava. It hits Hercules, he ends up crashing against the coliseum wall.

Molten and Ice Titan's have Hercules cornered. "We should help."

Sora summons his Keyblade, only to be stopped when I put my arm out. "No. He'll handle this."

Hercules regains conscious. He now sees that he is in a situation. With quick thinking, he jumps on the Molten Titan, not too much of a bright idea, but he's a god. Standing on lava isn't gonna kill him...that easily. Hercules gets Ice Titan's attention and taunts it.

Ice Titan roars and unleashes ice breath. Hercules leaps off and the ice breath ends up freezing the molten Titan. Very clever I must say. Once it's frozen, Hercule punches the frozen titan hard, destroying it.

Now that just leaves the Ice Titan. Hercules faces it head on, striking it hard with his sword. The Ice Titan fights back, but he does not last long in fight.

The crowd cheers and chants for Hercules. Me and the others are quite impressed with the battle.

After the battle, Hercules heads back into the lobby, where we meet him. "Sora. Patrick. When did you guys get here?"

"Long enough to see your battle against those two monsters." I say. "Very impressive I must say."

"Why thank you." Hercules turns his attention to Aqua and Riku. "And who are you two?"

"I'm Riku." Riku says.

"Aqua. We've met before." Aqua says.

Hercules didn't recgonize Aqua, but now that she mentions it, she does look familiar. "So, what brings you guys here?"

"This world is infested by the Nightmare. We are here to cleanse it." I say. "Have you seen anything suspicious?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Hercules says. "But there's a tournament coming up. We could use more fighters."

We all think about this, exchange looks even. We have a job to do, we can't simply drop everything to enter some tournament. We tell Hercules we're gonna discuss this outside of the coliseum. So that's what we do.

"I say we should enter the tournament." Sora says.

"We have a job to do, Sora. We must find the Keyhole." Riku says.

"Riku does have a point, but we don't have any leads so far." Aqua says. "And who knows, maybe we'll find some clue in the matches?"

I can see where Aqua is going with this, but I am Riku on this one. Just our luck, someone interferes, by appearing with a puff of death smoke. Sora and I are on alert, summon our Keyblades, held and ready to attack, while Riku stands by Aqua's side and protects her.

"Well, looky at what the cat dragged in. The key boy, Maleficent's little puppet, the deal breaker and the bluebird. How nice of all of you to drop on by." Hades says. He sounds friendly, but we all know he's not too pleased.

Once he's close, I have my Keyblade pointed at his face, inches away from connect. "What do you want, Hades?"

"Nothing from you, that's for certain." Hades says. "Unless you wanna resume with...our little deal." Sora, Riku and Aqua are confused, then look at me with concern. Hades looks over my shoulder to Aqua. "I mean, you may have gotten back your little bluebird friend, but I can see she's having a little bit of a struggle. Maybe I can be of some assistance."

"Shut it, corpse breath." I shout at him in a hostile tone.

"Okay, okay. Yeesh. No need to be hostile." Hades says. "What I'm really here for is I'm just checking on the competition."

"What? You're entering the tournament?" Riku asks.

Hades gives Riku a stern serious look. "You haven't chanced a bit, have yea kid? No, but my new friend here is." Hades moves aside. We wonder what he's talking about, then we see him coming.

Walking towards the coliseum from the gates is a strange man. Has spiky black hair, long on the sides of his face, with those on his forehead only on a eyebrows length. He wears a black jacket with skull-motif buttons and sequenced details on pockets. He keeps it unzipped and the tag on the zipper also has a small skull. Underneath he wears a steel gray shirt with skull prints. Noctis wears black cropped trousers and black buckled boots with red soles. He wears a black motorcycle glove on his left hand.

Noctis.

He walks right by us, non stop and without seeing a single word. He just gives us a gazed glare as he walks right past us, and then he enters the lobby.

"What are you up to, Hades?" I ask.

"Excuse me? What did you just say?" Hades puts a finger in his ear and starts wiping it clean. "Must be something stuck in my ears, cause I could have sworn I just heard you are wondering what I am up too." Hades appears right next to me, an arm around my shoulder. "I mean...come on, isn't it obvious? Hello?" Hades bangs on my head. "Anybody in there?"

Hades vanishes and reappears right in front of us. "Whatever you're up to, we're gonna stop you." Sora says.

"Oh, looky here. Someone's gotten serious when we last met." Hades says. "Oh, don't even bother trying. This is a foolproof plan. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an underworld to prepare for Wonder Breath's permanent visit."

Hades vanishes. Even though he is gone, I can still feel my blood boiling. "I hate him."

"So...what now?" Sora asks.

"Well, I guess we should enter the tournament, see what Hades is up too." Riku says.

What Riku says is true, so that's what we have decided to do. We enter the Lobby, to see Noctis is speaking to Phil to sign up for the tournament. Once he is done, he enters the arena. Phil notices the four of us.

"Hey there, champs...and helllllo there sweet cheeks." Phil is playing the charm on Aqua. Makes me wanna barf. There's no way I'm calling Phil 'Daddy'.

I groan quietly and roll my eyes at that act of charm. "Hey, Phil...We're looking to sign up for the tournament."

"Oh, all the greatest warriors keep falling on my plate, huh?" Phil asks. "You're in luck. I have one opening left for the East Bracket. So. You all competing together?"

"We are." Riku says. "So, what are the rules?"

"Here are the rules: We've got two brackets. One in the east and one in the west. You fight your way through the matches, and the two finalists on both brackets face each other for the championship against Hercules." Phil says. "Gotta warn yea, Mr. Shady guy back there is in the west. It might be possible you'll face him."

Noctis is entering the tournament so he can face Hercules. And kill him. "So that's Hades's plan. Should have known."

"Well, his plan is not gonna work. We're gonna enter that tournament and stop his little puppet." Riku says.

We all sign up for the tournament together. Aqua sits this one out, literally.

Our first match is the tournament is against Flowbermeow's and Escarglow's. I am well aware of the Dream Eater snails. They are not slow like normal snails, but they're dangerous.

The three of us get into battle stance and we all attack the Dream Eaters. One annoying thing about the Escarglows is when they hide in their shells, which defends them against all of our attacks. Even Magnet break their defenses.

The best thing Sora and I did against them was we cast Magnet spells. They all gathered and get stuck by the magnetic magic orb. While they are all stuck, we attack them with all of our might.

They become defeated so easily.

The tournament lasts for about ten matches. Each one either no different or tougher from the last. For the fifth match, Sora and I did a limit skill: Shadow Crusader.

Me enhanced in darkness and Sora enhanced in light, we stand, back to back, slashing down Dream Eaters with sweeping strikes, then we switch elements, Sora in darkness and me in light, and rapidly jump and perform dive attacks repeatly. For a finale, we jump high, close together back to back, and perform a final dive attack of Twilight Energy.

Up on the eight match, Riku enters Vemonscythe. Enhanced in dark poison. Each attack he throws at the Dream Eaters, they become poisoned.

We have made it to the final match. Against Drill Syes, Eaglider and Shadowy LePew, Skunk Dream Eaters. This is going to be challenging.

Sora and I fight our hardest as Riku fights deadly with his Vemonscythe commend style. In the end, he unleashes Vemonscythe. Shaping and extending his Keyblade with poison magic, into a scythe. He strikes murderously at his enemies and unleashes it with a heavy blow, that unleashes three waves of poison in front of him.

We won the match, now it's time for the finals.

We gather in the lobby. It's only mere minutes before the final match begins. Just from the looks, we can tell that Noctis is tough. Plus, I've heard of how powerful he is. He took down "Lost Song" in two seconds...before the match even started.

"Okay. Here's the plan: Sora. You distract Noctis. Riku, attack from behind and I'll ambush him while he's occupied." I say.

"Why do I have to distract him?" Sora asks.

"Because Riku and I are more powerful and skilled." I say. "Don't worry. The plan will work, and once we got him, we'll all jump at him at once. Go for the final blow."

"Sounds like a good plan. Let's just hope it'll work." Riku says.

Phil walks right into the lobby. "All right, champs. It's time for the match."

The audience is packed tonight.

The roar a cheer as the three of us enter the arena. Once when we're in the center, that's when Noctis makes his entrance. I can scene a dark presence within him. He's working for Hades all right.

Phil stands in between us. "All right, boys. I want a good clean fight. No one come here to see a bloodbath or any cheats, capiche?"

Phil makes his leave. We all gaze at Noctis. He gazes back at us. "Don't try to get in my way." He says in a cold attitude.

We don't say anything, then all of us stand ten feet away from each other. Next, we turn and face each other. Sora, Riku and I summon our Keyblades. I go Dual-wielding since this is a serious match. Noctis takes out a greatsword.

Positioned to fight, we wait for the match to start. At the sound of the gong, the match begins.

Sora is the first one to charge. Riku and I move to the sides, getting out of Noctis's sight. Sora does a thrust strike. Noctis stands still, not a single fear to be shown on his face. At the very last second, another .1 second, the Keyblade would have impaled through his head, Noctis dodges the attack.

Sora is speechless. It's unbelievable. To be able to dodge something that fast, so sudden, it's impossible, even for me. Noctis appears right next to Sora, does furious attacks, ended by knocking him away.

Riku comes at Noctis from behind. But Noctis senses him, just as Riku strikes, Noctis rolls his eyes to the side, turns and blocks the attack with his sword. I leap towards Noctis with both of my Keyblades aimed for a dive attack. Noctis gets Riku on a hold and uses him as a human shield from me.

Riku and I are both surprised in nervous. Luckily, Riku blocks my attack with Dark Shield. While I'm staggered midair, Noctis spins Riku once then throws him at me. We both crash land close to Sora. "Damn. This guy's good."

Noctis puts away his greatsword and takes out two guns. He spins them in his hands then starts shooting the second he gets a grip on them. We act fast into moving out of the way as he was shooting. None of us got shot thank goodness. Noctis focuses his target on Riku. While he is, Sora and I try to attack him from behind.

We both attack him with fire spells. Noctis dodges each of them, switches his weapon to a lance and comes at me. I block his charge attack. Sora attacks from behind. At this moment, we both attack and Noctis dodges, parries and counterattacks, with us blocking most of his attacks.

His dodge is incredible. Avoiding. Ducks. Side turns. Spinning his lance in between his actions. Noctis leaps back, switching weapons midair from lance to two swords. The second he lands, he charges and attacks us at a burst of speed.

Sora dodges out of the way, I block both swords with my two Keyblades, locked in quite a blade entanglement. I am able to hold Noctis for Riku and Sora to strike him quickly.

For the first time, we actually hit him, but he is not too pleased with it. Noctis leaps back, to the other side of the arena. "We've got him! All together!"

We ready ourselves to attack, but just as we do, Noctis is doing something pretty big. The ground shakes minorly and energy pulses through. Next thing that happens is all of Noctis weapons come to life. Swords. Greatswords. Lances. Spears. Daggers. Guns. Phantom Swords. Every single one of them surrounding Noctis.

"Oh dear. We are in some deep trouble." I say.

With a single snap of his fingers, all of his weapons charges at each of us in a high burst of speed.

We try defending ourselves and fighting against the weapons. But Noctis's power is proven to be incredible. Noctis just stands in place, watching his weapons do the dancing for him.

In the end, the three of us a weak, exhausted and injured. None of his weapons have been defeated other. We all collapses and fall unconscious. We are defeated, and the cheer roars a cheer for Noctis's victory.

If he can defeat us this easily, Hercules is doomed.


	9. Lord of the Dead

**A/N: Noctis is pretty intense isn't he? I just hope I've capture his power, I based out of when I read what weapons he uses and what I've seen in the videos of his battles. Still, Noctis is pretty damn powerful if he was able to wipe out the three of us, and I am hardcore in Keyblade power.**

 **Hercules** **is doomed. Something must be done.**

World: Olympus Coliseum

* * *

The three of us are bruised, cut and in broken bones. Well not literally, just metaphorically to explain how bad our condition is right after Noctis kicked our butts.

Sora is laying on the ground, Riku lending against the wall while I'm sitting on the pedestal. We're all in the lobby, soon after our match against Noctis, Hades's little minion. Aqua puts an ice pack on Riku's head then she wheels right next to me.

"I can't believe you guys got creamed out there." Aqua says.

"I know. That Noctis guy is intense." Riku says.

"I've studied the highest level of battle technique and magic, and I've never seen anything like that." I say.

"If we can't stop him...then Herc is doomed." Sora says.

"Well? What are we gonna do?" Riku asks.

"Firstly. We need to heal up." I take out the Hexicon, groaning in pain as I pull it out. "Hold this...Aqua."

I hand Aqua the Hexicon. She faces it towards me. I flap the pages to the healing spells and begin Rejuvenation. "O lux et Seraphim sanctis. Potentiam tuam, et redde vulnera commodi."

A holy and nature healing spell appears in front of me and unleashes its power all over the lobby. One second, we're all scarred and wounded. The next, the healing spell restores our injuries. We are completely restored. The pain all gone. Sora and Riku both stand back up, then I get on my feet.

"Okay. Secondly, we go to the source of the problem." I suggest.

Sora and Riku get what I mean: Hades. We go and talk to him. Or fight him is more accurate. And we better hurry. The match starts in fifteen minutes.

Before we make our trip to the Underworld, we search for Hercules. If there's one thing we haven't forgotten is that the underworld has a curse that drains our strength, and only the Olympus Stone can shield us from its dark magic.

Once we got the stone's power, we arrive in Thebes and have found a dark portal that leads into the Underworld. The Underworld certainly hasn't changed when I last came here, though I was surprised to hear that Sora and his friends hadn't come into the Underworld when they first visited the coliseum. I did.

Not only that, but Aqua hasn't as well. I can tell by her surprise when we set foot in here. "This...is the Underworld? This is so..." She's pretty speechless. Normally, Aqua has a word for everything, but not this time.

"Yes. The place is quiet creepy and gloomy. That's the Underworld for yea." I say.

"Enough wasting time. We have to find Hades." Riku says.

Riku is right, and our journey in the Underworld begins.

Hades sits upon his throne in the Underworld with Xanamad by his side. They are both watching the reruns of the match between the three of us against Noctis. What they both enjoy most is the end when Noctis unleashes his full power against us. Hades even laughs with delight.

"Oh. That never gets old." Xanamad says.

"Indeed. But imagine all the fun we'll have once Blunder Boy is defeated." Hades says.

Xanamad nods. Then something goes wrong. One second, she's pleased, the next, she's on high alert. "Someone's here...and coming."

Hades is not pleased to hear that. "It must be those rats trying to meddle in on my plan."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Xanamad says. "Don't worry. My Dream Eaters will handle them."

Xanamad channels her dark magic. As we explore the Underworld, we have encountered the Dream Eaters. Seeing them here in the Underworld surprises us. Now it clearly means that a member of the Onyx Nightmare is here.

Nonetheless. We fight our way through the Dream Eaters. There is nothing Hades can throw at us that will stop us. Except for Noctis of course, but he is busy sealing a deal with Hades. There's no way he would never think of coming to his lords rescue.

Riku and Sora does most of the fighting against the Dream Eaters while I stay with Aqua. Sora and Riku are powerful, but I feel better if I'm protecting Aqua in this world of death.

Meanwhile, the match is close to begin. Hercules is working himself out, warming up, staying strong. Noctis is just hanging against the wall, watching Hercules. All he plans to do is kill Hercules in the match. Hercules is completely unaware of Noctis's plan. As far as he knows, we're going to the Underworld to talk to Hades.

Phil enters the Coliseum gates. "All right you two, it's time for the final match."

Hearing that has captured Noctis's attention. Hercules gets back on his feet. "Okay!" Hercules looks at Noctis and approaches him. "Listen...Let's just put on a good show, for the fans. Whatever happens, no hard feelings. Right?"

Hercules offers a handshake. Noctis doesn't say or do anything, just looks at Hercule's hand, and then walks away without saying anything.

Noctis and Hercules both arrive at the arena. The crowd cheers with excitement for the match is about to begin.

We hurry our way through the Valley of the Dead. We don't know how much time is left before the match, but we do know there isn't much left. Dream Eaters still stand in our way, and we fight them to the death. Seems very fitting. Fighting Dream Eaters to the death in a world of the dead.

Dream Eaters were no challenge in the Underworld. It's like they've become infected with the curse.

Finally, we reach Hades's chambers.

The match has just begun. Hades watches the tournament from his seat. Hercules is coming strong against Noctis. Even though Hercules has shown no signs of exhaust or weakness, Hades is still amused.

"Now THAT is entertainment!" Hades says.

"Eh. I've seen better." Xanamad says.

As they are watching the match, that is when we make an entrance in Hades's chambers. "Hades!"

Hades didn't pay attention. He just stays focused on the match. He chuckles and speaks not even taking his eyes off. "Well. Look. Our guests have finally arrived. Come in! Come! Grab a seat!" Hades waves his hand then snap his fingers. Smoke appears behind each of us and they grab us and take form as chairs.

We are not in bondages, just sitting on dark chairs made out of smoke. This is bad health. "You all are just in time to enjoy Hercules's demise." We all look at the small portal placed over the table in front of Hades. There, the match between Hercules and Noctis has started. We can see Hercules is handling it very well, but he does not have long before Noctis has the upper hand. "You have got to admit! This is pretty cool!"

"Maybe for you. But we do not find this entertaining." I say. "We know you've enslaved Noctis. Let him go!"

"Oh trust me. I will. After all, our little deal is that if he kills Hercules, I shall grant him his freedom." Hades gazes directly at me. "Unlike you, my little friend, he is planning on sticking with this deal. No way he'll break it like you did."

I summon my Keyblade. "I'll break YOU!" I perform a Strike Raid, only to have my Keyblade go right through Hades like a ghost.

While I'm astonished, he just laughs like its a joke. "In case you have forgotten: This is MY Underworld. You cannot harm me so easily."

I growl. I really hate this god. "What's the matter? Can't handle a little temper? You really are such a baby." Xanamad says. "Pathetic!"

Sora looks at the table. There, he notices a statue on the edge that looks a lot like Noctis. He realizes what it is, it's exactly what happened to Auron. Sora taps on Riku's shoulder, Riku only rolls his eyes at Sora, then notices the boy is pointing at the statue. His eyes are wide open.

"There's no way you four are going to be able to stop me. So just relax and enjoy the show." Riku takes baby steps towards the statue. He also keeps his eye on Hades to make sure he is not being watched. "Oh! This is my favorite part!"

We look to see Hercules and Noctis, wielding duel swords, are locked in a face to face clash. Noctis does a counterattack, hurts Hercules. Hades laughs. "Oh! That's clever! Love this guy!"

While Hades and Xanamad are focused on the match, Riku goes for the statue, slowly to keep the enemy unaware. Once he's close, he makes the grab.

"I got the statue!" Hearing Riku call out that sends Hades and Xanamad on alert.

"What!? Stop him!" Hades says in a burst of anger.

Riku steps back to the exit. Xanamad takes out her daggers and leaps towards him. Riku summons his Keyblade to ready for battle, but instead, I get in the way and block Xanamad's attack.

"Go! Run!" I shout.

Sora runs first, then Riku hands Aqua the statue, grabs the wheelchair and run. I rebel Xanamad then make a run for it as well. "Don't let them get away!" Hades shouts at Xanamad.

"Oh chill out, hothead! I'm on it!" Xanamad chases us from behind.

Hercules and Noctis's battle gets hard. Noctis is fighting like mad against Hercules. Hercules she hardly keep up on defending himself from Noctis's attack. Noctis switches to guns and starts shooting. Hercules punches the ground hard and pulls it out, creating a large shield to block the bullets.

Hercules is pretty smart. But that's not going to stop Noctis.

We had just left Hade's Chambers, and the second we did we are surrounded by Dream Eaters. We all turn to see Xanamad approaching us.

"End of the line, cowards. You are out numbered." Xanamad says.

I step forward, summoning my two Keyblades. "Maybe so, but you are clearly out matched."

Xanamad smirks. "Aww, look. The baby's gone tough. I like it!"

I charge and attack Xanamad. Xanamad parries my attack. That just leaves Sora and Riku to handle the Dream Eaters. Riku focuses attacking them in his Vemonscythe command style.

Xanamad is very skilled. I can hardly land any hits, only block and counterattack, only to have my attacks blocked. Sora fights the Dream Eaters as well, but he mostly focuses on protecting Aqua.

Once the Dream Eaters are defeated, we make a run for it through the Valley of the Dead. I stun Xanamad for a while then make a run myself. She is not happy about our escape. She growls and then runs after us once she recovered. Our escape becomes hard. That's to be expected since we're getting away with something sacred in Hades's plan.

Xanamad is pretty stubborn. She's so fixated in attacking me. Doesn't even better to go after Aqua since she's the one holding the statue.

More Dream Eaters appears the further we get away from the Underworld. and the more that appears, the tougher they become to defeat. If only I wasn't stuck on holding Xanamad back, I would lend them a head, even activate my D-link with Chantal.

Minutes later, we made it all the way to the entrance of the Underworld. Xanamad is the only one who is after us, no Dream Eaters. Sora and Riku are both by the portal with Aqua, while I'm still behind holding Xanamad back.

"Patrick! Hurry!" Sora shouts!

"Just go! I'll be right there!" I say.

Sora and Aqua didn't want to leave without me, but Riku spoke to them. "He'll be fine. Let's just go!"

Riku pushes Aqua through the portal then he goes as well, Sora is the last one. Once I see everyone's through, I return my attention to Xanamad. "You cannot escape from the Nightmare! It is everywhere!"

"The light will banish the Nightmare! You and the rest of the Onyx Nightmare will fall!"

I deliver a couple of strikes, most of them blocked, and then I kick Xanamad hard in the stomach, knocking her back and causing her to stagger. I leap back, while doing so, I chant an explosion spell on my Keyblade, then throw it down. It impales on the ground and then unleashes a massive explosion, causing a large chasm cutting off Xanamad from us.

I run to the portal.

Even though we got away from the trouble, we cannot rest. The match is still going on and we need to free Noctis from Hades's control before he kills Hercules.

Match is coming down to the wire. Noctis is coming on strong while Hercules is becoming exhausted. Noctis switches to a broadsword and swings hard against Hercules. Hercules took a couple of blows, losing conscious with each one. Noctis delivers a hard blow on the final swing, sending Hercules flying. Even the entire coward gasps in shock seeing their hero fall.

We made it to the arena, but we can see we are too late. Hercules is down and Noctis is about to finish the deal. "Notcis! No!" Sora shouts.

I know something must be done. "Give me that!" I take the Noctis statue from Aqua, toss it to the ground and stomp on it hard, destroying it.

Destroying the statue unleashes dark magic. We all step back from it as it is been sent into the air. Noctis hovers his sword over Hercules, raises it. He starts to impale Hercule hard, right over his heart. But before he has the chance to do so, that is when his will returns to him.

Noctis came to his senses, and steps away from the wounded Hercules. Noctis looks at his surrounds, he's surprised. To him, he never realized that he is at the Olympus Coliseum. As he wonders, a puff of smoke appears, revealing the hotheaded Hades.

He is not happy. "GAH! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! I WAS SO DAMN CLOSE AND YOU NITWITS HAD TO INTERFERE!"

We approach in the area, Keyblades summoned and ready to attack. "It's over, Hades!" I say.

Noctis turns to Hades. "You. You took everything from me." He positions himself to fight. "Now I'm gonna return a favor."

Hades growls as he unleashes his burning rage. "This is NOT OVER! I'll end you all here AND NOW!"

Noctis and Riku both make the first move, Riku casting a Dusk spell and Noctis charging in a burst of speed. Hades gets hit in the face by the Dusk and, while he's not looking, gets knock back by Noctis's attack. Hades recovers quickly and sends two large fireballs at us.

I take the front and deflect them with a barrier spell. The orbs of flame split, going left and right and hit the coliseum walls. Sora performs a Strike Raid directly at Hades. Hades avoids the attack by vanishing and reappearing on the left.

"Time to bring on the heat!" Hades summons a massive sun right in the center of the coliseum. The large orb of fire shoots out fire. We try hard to avoid the flames. Nocis focuses on attacking Hades. Hades laughs in delight at Noctis's recklessness then shoots a fireball at him.

Noctis gets hit pretty hard by the intense flames. Sora and I decided to cool Hades down with some ice spells. We shoot several blizzard spells on him, few of them were avoided when Hades vanishes and reappears.

The fight goes on for a while and I end up doing all the healing when we get injured. Why am I the one healing? I'm not even a strong healer. I'm a fighter and strategist.

Noctis sometimes fall, he's pretty reckless when he has his will back. Liked him better when he was tearing us to shreds back in the match. But I guess he can't be blamed. He wants revenge against the god who ruined his life.

Sora and Riku perform the Session limit ability. Haven't seen them do that since the World That Never Was when we brought down Organization XIII. While they both have Hades occupied, Noctis and I ambush him from behind. Hades suffers much from each of us all at once.

The end of Session brings him to his knees. Hades isn't taking losing very well. Talk about sore loser. "Rrgh! Don't think you've won yet! I've got over 500,000,000 lives! Sure, most of them are ones I took, but I will be back. Stay tuned!"

Hades vanishes. That battle is over, but I have a feeling the war is not.

After the match, we took Hercules in the lobby. Aqua helps heal him while we take care of Noctis. Now we stand in front of the Coliseum gates as he explains what happened.

"I came from a strange world...one that's different from others. I don't remember what it was, all I knew was the darkness came...and it shallowed me whole. That's where Hades found me. He took me prisoner, tortured me in every way. I saw many of my friends fall in the hands of that monster." That sure does sound like sometime Hades would do. "I was his prisoner, his puppet. A tool to his little game. I could see everything he was making me do, but I could not fight back."

"That must have been horrible for you, Noctis." Sora says.

"It very much was. I owe you all my deepest thanks...and my sensor apologizes." Noctis says.

"That won't be necessary." Riku says. "But still...what are you gonna do now?"

"Hmm..." Noctis hasn't really thought of it, since he never dreamed of a day when he would be free from Hades. He turns away from us and look up in the sky. "My world is still out there. I'll search for it, no matter how long it takes."

"I know that feeling." I say.

Noctis turns to us, then he approaches me. "Consider it a gift." Noctis touches a finger on my Wayfinder. It glows for a second as he adds a bit of his power to mine. Noctis has been added into my D-link power. "Use it if you never need any aid. See you around."

Noctis turns and makes his leave. "He seemed okay."

"A bit shady for my type." Riku says.

"And what does that make me? Chopped liver?" I ask.

Sora and Riku laughs a bit, they know that I'm aware they're fond of me, shady or not. Aqua wheels herself out of the lobby and returns to us. "How's Herc doing?" Sora asks.

"He'll be fine. He is gonna need to rest for a while. Phil sure wasn't too pleased that he's going to be on break." Aqua says.

"Well, that's Phil for him." Sora says.

While are go on chatting, that's when the light shines over us. A Keyhole has appeared. Sora, Riku and I summon our Keyblades and then we seal the Keyhole. The light shines bright, and once the whiteness is cleared, the Nightmare is gone and the world has returned to normal.

Three down. Ten to go.


	10. House in the Woods

**A/N:** **Can anyone think of a more obvious world to visit during the invasion of the Nightmares? I can certainly think a few, one of them just so happens to belong to a certain princess of beauty sleep. But what happens when her eternal slumber turns into nightmares during the infection of the Nightmare?**

World: Enchanted Domination

* * *

Princess Aurora, excuse me. I shouldn't call her a princess. Aurora is right now a simple maiden who lives in a cottage house in the woods. Raised by three fairies disguised as humans.

On the night of Aurora's christening, Maleficent breaks into the party. The king and queen didn't invite her to the christening. As punishment, Maleficent puts a curse on Aurora. Before the sunset on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of an enchanted spinning wheel and die. However, after the witch leaves, the fairy Merryweather uses her blessing to alter the curse so that instead of dying, Aurora will fall into a deep sleep, for which she can only be awaken by true love's first kiss.

King Stefan still fears for his daughter's life by Maleficent's curse. Even after burning all the spinning wheels in the kingdom, that will not stop Maleficent's curse. So the fairies have decided to take care of Aurora, outside of the kingdom, where they believe she will be safe from Maleficent.

Sixteen years later this day, on Aurora's birthday, she has grown up into a beautiful young woman, loved by all. Well, mainly the critters of the forest.

Maleficent grows frustrated that she is unable to find the cursed princess, and her time runs short.

Here, we arrive in the world's forest. Sora and Riku take the lead while I'm pushing Aqua. "I think we're lost." Sora says.

"We're not lost. I...know where I'm going." Riku says.

"Honestly, I wish he would admit we're lost." Aqua says.

"I'd rather have that then endlessly wonder around the forest." I say.

At least we know we're in the right world. Just like the other three: The Nightmare infects it. Replace the skies with shattered openings of redish black color.

Under Riku's lead, we wonder through the forest. Well, our lost travels didn't end up boring. Dream Eaters still make an appearance and they manage to entertain us in combat. But that still does not solve our little problem. After nearly an hour of walking, feels like more then just one hour. Point is we've been walking for miles.

Sora and I have noticed the areas we've been entering look familiar. "This isn't good...We've been going in circles." Aqua says.

I stop pushing Aqua then move to Riku's side. "We've been walking for miles, Riku! Just admit it: We're lost!"

"We are not lost. I...know exactly where we're going." Riku says.

"And you say I'm the stubborn one. Why can't you just admit you-" As I'm scolding Riku, Sora tells us to be quiet.

"Guys! Guys! Quiet..." We wonder what this is about. "Listen..." When we're sounded by silence, we hear something. Sounds like...singing. Beautiful song. Coming from a very familiar voice. "Does anyone recognize that?"

Sora's right. I know I've heard this before. It sounds pretty close. We hide in the bushes, look right through them. To our surprise, there's a man and a beautiful women. That women was know who she is. Golden long hair. Red rose lips. Beautiful voice.

"Princess Aurora?" Sora says, sounding surprised.

"I'm surprised. This must be her world." Riku says.

I'm well aware of Aurora's history. That makes me realize something about this worlds corruption. "If Aurora is here, then the Nightmare in this world is going to be more dangerous then the other worlds."

Sora shushes us. "Quiet! Stay down!"

We duck our heads back in the bushes. Sora and I did. Riku just stay standing, then Sora and I reached a hand out, on each of Riku's shoulders and we both pull him back down.

"Did you hear something?" Aurora asks.

"I haven't the slightest idea." Philip says. "Don't you remember? We've met before."

Aurora seems clueless and confused. "We...we have?"

"Why of course. You said so yourself: Once upon a dream." Philip says.

Hearing that barely made any sense to me, but it does worry since he mentioned it's a dream. That means Dream Eaters and the Nightmare is coming for them. Still, that seems to convince Aurora. She smiles, and the two lock arms and go for a walk.

Still hidden in the shadows, we follow the princess and Philip. The two of them watch the river, underneath a tree, right on the cliff. We stay hidden right behind them. Sora and Aqua in the bushes, me on the high branches close to the countless leafs and Riku is in a burrow underneath a rock. He slightly lifts the rock to get a peek.

Aurora holds on to Philip's arm as she rests her head on his shoulder. "I never thought I would meet you...outside of my dreams, that is."

"Who are you? What's your name?" Philip asks.

I'm surprised he doesn't even know Aurora. Then again, I realize that she is right now an ordinary citizen and not a princess. "Hmm? ...Oh, my name...Why it's..." Aurora sounds uncertain. Now she's nervous. "Oh, oh no, I can't...Good-bye." Now she's running.

Great. It's Cinderella all over again. "I must see you." Philip says.

Aurora is stops running. She looks back at Philip, but still positioned to run. "I don't know, maybe someday." Then she continues running. Philip chases her, still asking.

"When? Tomorrow?" He shortly stops. Aurora looks back and speaks, but she's still running. "Oh, no. This evening! At the cottage, in the glen." Philip watches Aurora until she's out of sight, then he makes his leave.

Once it's all clear, we come out of hiding. "'Once upon a dream?' ...You don't think." Sora wonders.

"They're probably going to be targets for the Dream Eaters." I say.

"What are we gonna do now?" Aqua asks.

"We follow Aurora. Let's go find this...Cottage." I suggest, and everyone else agrees.

We follow down the path Aurora took. We quickly realized that Aurora is indeed going to be in danger. The forest is crawling with Dream Eaters. She's an innocent princess disguised as a maid. Aurora mightiest well be served on a silver platter with some jam, cause the girl is toast.

I'm certainly right to worry. As we follow the path, we have encountered multiple Dream Eaters. No sign of Aurora or any cries of help coming from her. It's possible she might have gotten a head start from the monsters.

We battle the Dream Eaters. I fight them in my new D-link with Noctis. I'm enhanced in an energetic aura. Right now, I'm dual wielding my two Keyblades. As I fight, my weapons constantly shifts into different modes. Dual Blades. Broadsword. Guns. Spear. Even a Bow. All of them still in the form of Keyblades.

Most of my shifts are triggered through combo attacks, like Dual Blade slashes, Spear wide spin slash then finish with a Bow powerful explosive shot. My attacks are swift, powerful. Just as Noctis was when we were facing them.

With the Dream Eaters defeated, we continue onward.

It takes a while but we have finally found the cottage in the forest. "There."

We approach. No sign of Aurora or anymore Dream Eaters. Certainly no sign of Philip, then again it's not even evening. I'm about to knock on the door, until I hear voices from the other side. It's pretty fainted, can hardly make out. But it almost sounds like a disappointing conversation.

"What was that?" Sora asks.

"Shh." I shush at Sora as I put an ear on a door to listen.

"But...I can't. He's coming here tonight. I promised to meet him!" Aurora says.

As I listen, a black crow flies from the house. Sora and Riku notices it, but they do not worry about it, though just the sight of it gives them a bad feeling. For Riku, he wonders if he's seen it before. It looks quite familiar.

"I'm sorry, dear. But you must never see that young man again." Flora says.

Even though she said it with kindness and gentle, it still sounds cold. "Oh no...No!" Aurora is certainly not taking it well. "I can't believe it! No!" Now I hear crying. Getting stronger. For a second, I thought it's because of yelling, then I start hearing moving as the crying gets stronger, and then I move just as the door bursts open and Aurora runs out crying.

Something tells me whatever happened didn't go so well. Just then, three humans come out, who look very familiar. "And I thought she would be happy." Merryweather says.

"Excuse me?" The maidens are all startled when my friends and I appear out of hiding. "What may I ask is going on?"

The three maidens are astonished. "Oh goodness. Look sisters: It's Sora, Riku and Patrick." The three of us are confused. We wonder how it is they know us, then we received our answer before we even ask. The three maidens transforms into fairies. Flora. Fauna and Merryweather.

"Oh, it's you guys." I'm familiar with the three fairies. They have helped me through intense training with magic while I was studying under Yen Sid.

"Oh please, do tell what it is you are doing here." Fauna says.

We explain to the fairies about what's going on, how Yen Sid have assigned us to travel around worlds to cleanse them from the Nightmare. At first, the fairies didn't believe it, but they know it must be true if it's Yen Sid who detected the dark situation.

"Oh heavens, how dreadful that something like that could happen." Flora says.

"Sounds like Maleficent might be behind this." Merryweather says.

We're all shocked by the name, mainly Sora and Riku. "Maleficent!?" We all say.

The fairies now explain their part of the story, where Aurora was cursed by Maleficent, and the fairies raised Aurora in believe it was a way to avoid the evil prophecy. "We just told Aurora about her true identity. But she has fallen in love with some stranger."

"And then you told her she can't be with him no more and she didn't take it very well." I guessed.

"I'm afraid so. But now we have to take Aurora to her father, King Stefan, at the kingdom." Merryweather says.

"But we need to find a way to escort her to the palace without Maleficent noticing." Fauna says.

"And that's going to be difficult. She has eyes everywhere." Flora says.

I think for a moment. What they see is true indeed. Maleficent sees all. If we try to take Aurora to the kingdom, she'll know. Eyes...everywhere...but what about in the shadows? "I've got an idea."

We make our way to the palace. But we do not go through the forest, or anywhere on the surface. We are underground, in the hidden tunnels. For good measurements, Aurora has her face hidden in a shrouded cloak. I take the lead, a Keyblade out and ready for battle. I'm not expecting any Dream Eaters down here, but Maleficent is very dangerous. If she appears, we must be ready to fight.

Sora and Riku have taken the rear, and the three fairies are pushing Aqua. Funny this is Merryweather quite enjoys Aqua cause of her taste in the color blue, and Flora and Fauna argue, sometimes tell Aqua to try out red and green. I'll be honest, it gets very annoying seeing them fight over something as stupid as color.

"Would you three shut up?! Are you trying to make Maleficent find us?!" I shout in a whisper. And just like that, they shut up. "Thank you!"

Honestly, I don't get why I wanted them to come along. They're little colorful disagreement is just gonna get us all into trouble. Speaking of trouble, once we enter a wide open tunnel, Dream Eaters appear.

"Oh dear!" Flora says in shock.

"Dream Eaters!" I shout as I charge and attack.

I'm the only one here who is doing the fight. Sora and Riku stay behind to protect the princess and Aqua. I'm still D-linked with Noctis, so this fight is going to be pretty easy. Dream Eaters fall, two or three each second, by my fury. More Dream Eaters appear, almost endlessly.

By the final wave, which is a group of five Drak Quake, three Eaglider, three Eascarglow and two Hebby Repp, that's when I unleash my true power of Noctis's link.

Prince's Wrath.

Just like Noctis, I unleash a powerful display of telekinesis, all weaponry forms of my Keyblades and copies of them. All at one, each of them attacks vicious like they're at their own will and mind. For the final blow, all the weapons forcus on one target and stab, slash, thrust and shoot, all at once, then I summon my main Keyblade and do an instant Zantetsuken.

All of the Dream Eaters are defeated.

Even after the battle, the fairies cannot relax. "You don't think they were Maleficent's...do you?"

"If they were, we would have known." I say. It's true. Maleficent would have made a call out or perhaps appeared before us. "We better get moving."

As we are escorting Aurora to the castle, Maleficent sits upon her very throne at her lair in the Forbidden Mountain. The black raven flies towards the highest point of the dark castle ruins. It lands right on Maleficent's shoulder, and the evil fairy smiles in delight.

"Welcome home, Diablo...What have you found out?" Diablo calls out his response. Maleficent understands the birds language and her smile widens. "A maid living in the cottage in the forest? With golden hair and rose lips? ...My, my. It seems Flora is more clever in hiding the princess then I thought...It's a shame it did not last long."

Maleficent laughs. She grabs her staff and stands up. "I believe it's time we pay a visit. After all...Aurora is an old friend of ours."

And by 'old friend', she means it in a cruel way.

Meanwhile, at the kingdom, it's completely empty. Even the guards aren't at their posts. In the courtyard, the sewer cover slightly raises as I stick my head out to take a peek. There's nobody around. No guards or anyone or anything that works with Maleficent.

"Coast is clear." I say.

I fully remove the cover and climb right up, then I pull Aurora out. Then Riku, then Aqua by the hands and then the Wheelchair when Sora pulls it out. Once Aqua is in place on the chair, I pull Sora out, and the three fairies just flies out.

It is dusk, the set is nearly set and Aurora is close to escaping her cursed fate. But that still doesn't cheer her up.

Still keeping Aurora's face hidden, we escort her through the castle. We take Aurora to a room, which is set to be her chambers. Can't believe we made it this far and Aurora is still unharmed. But it's not over yet, the sun has yet to set.

"This one last gift for dear child thee." Flora says as she and her sisters use their magic to make a tiara. "The symbol of thee royalty." Flora takes the crown and put it on Aurora's head, who is still watching her own reflection and sorrow. "A crown to wear in grace and beauty. This is thee right to royal duty." What is this? Shakespeare? If my people lived, I bet my crowning wouldn't be anything like this.

Still, Aurora just lays her head and cries. Most girls would enjoy being princesses, but seeing her being so upset about it is so...unusual.

"Let's give her a few moments to take it in." Flora suggests. The fairies, Sora and Riku leave. But I stay behind, watching Aurora. What Flora suggests is something Aurora might need at the moment. However, with Maleficent targeting the princess here, leaving her alone is not the best idea.

"Keep an eye on her." I whisper to Aqua, she nods as I leave the chambers. So the six of us talk about the situation Aurora's in. She's suppose to marry prince but she's in love with some simple boy. It's a hard problem to fix. Aurora is deeply in love with him. Which seems kind of overthinking given she has just met the man.

Aqua keeps an eye on Aurora, but she is illy prepared for what's about to happen, as the fire in the fireplace douses and the smoke takes form as a glowing green orb.

Maleficent comes.


	11. Maleficent

**A/N: The world of Sleeping Beauty seems very fitted for a Kingdom Hearts journey of the Living Nightmare. Who wouldn't agree? Aurora is now about to be sealed by her fate of Maleficent's curse. The Nightmare has just begun for everyone.**

World: Enchanted Domination

* * *

We remain fully unaware of what is going on with Aurora in her new room. Aqua just look out the window, but she can tell something is going on. Aurora stopped crying. Even through she hasn't cried on the way to the kingdom, now just seems too soon for her to stop.

Aurora sits up from her chair. Her gaze is far off distance stare. A sign of hypnotism. Aqua turns to see Aurora. "Aurora?" She wheels herself to Aurora. "Aurora?" Aqua tries to get her attention, but the young princess would not respond.

Green light fills the room, which surprises the former Keyblade master. She looks around to fin the source. A green orb glowing by the fireplace.

"Whatever shall we do?" Flora asks.

"Maybe if she were to meet the prince. That'll help her forget the man?" Sora asks.

"I'm a prince and she didn't grow feelings for me." I say.

"You weren't a prince when you two met. You didn't even have your memories back then." Riku points out.

I look up, fingers on my chin thinking about that. "Hmm...good point."

Merryweather scolds at the thought. "Oh! I just don't see why she has to marry any old...prince!"

I for one find that offensive. "Excuse me?"

Fauna tries to calm Merryweather. "Now. That's not for us to decide dear."

While we discuss about the situation, Aqua is in her own situation. Aurora now stands, slowly following the orb of green light. Aqua starts to worry, for she's starting to believe that Maleficent is behind this.

"Guys!" She shouts.

Once Aurora is close, the green orb clears a hidden passage from in the fireplace, and it floats into the darkness with Aurora following it.

"Guys!" Aqua wheels to the door, banging on it. "Guys!"

As she bangs on the door, we open it. "Aqua? What is it?" I ask.

"Oh heavens! Look!" Fauna says. We all look to see Aurora is disappearing into the darkness, with green light guiding her. "Maleficent!"

"After her!" I order.

We chase after Aurora, but that shortly feels when the brick wall of the fireplace returns and we all end up crashing into it. Aurora is being guided up the stairs by the green orb of light. By Maleficents twisted magic. Sora, Riku and I all try to push the fireplace open, but it won't budge.

"Oh! Stand aside." Flora says. We move aside and she uses her magic to make an opening to the hidden passage. He hurry inside to find Aurora before it's too late.

In the hidden hallway there are many passages. Aurora could have been taken in any of them. The path we take is the spiral stairway. We sometimes split up in the multiple hallways to find Aurora. But there is no luck. But I know we're on the right path. I can feel Maleficent's dark magic.

The orb takes Aurora all the way to the Tower Room. By the end of the room, the orb green takes form and turns into a spinning wheel. A magical, cursed more like it, spinning wheel. Aurora approaches it. Stretches her arm out to it, then prick her finger on the spindle.

By the time we reach the tower room, it's too late. Maleficent stands in the end of the room. Sora, Riku and I summon our Keyblades, ready to fight.

"Well, well. If it isn't the foolish Keybearers. I did not expect to see you all here." The three fairies catch up, but they stop and are in shock. "You poor simple fools. You think you could defeat me? ME! The mistress of all evil!"

"We defeated you once!" Sora says.

"Dream on, boy." Maleficent says to him. "Now here's your...precious princess."

Aurora removes her cloak from the ground, revealing Aurora dead asleep. The fairies gasp, and the three of us are in shock as well. We are too late. Maleficent laughs in cruelty as she vanishes. The three fairies gather around Aurora, crying and chatting about how it's their fault, they're to blame, they can never be forgiven.

This is bad...very bad.

* * *

"The sun has set! Make ready to welcome your princess!"

Everyone in the entire kingdom cheers. For they believe that Aurora will return to the kingdom after the sunset of her 16th birthday. Oh, but they are not fully prepared for the truth behind the story of what's really happening.

In the tower of Aurora's room, Aqua and Riku are looking down at the citizens from the window. "They'll know eventually." Riku says.

"They'll have to know what really happened." Aqua says.

Sora is right by my side, holding the Hexicon. I'm performing powerful magic from the spellbook, in attempt to break Aurora out of this curse. I start to struggle the longer I channel the magic, not out of exhaustion but out of Maleficent's curse is fighting back.

Finally, I gave up on the spell. "Can't you break the curse?" Merryweather asks me.

"You think I'm not trying? I'm going through every single damn spell this book is carrying! Now would you please let me concentrate!?" I tell her in irritation. Merryweather closes her mouth and steps back. With silence once again, I resume trying the next spell.

"Maledictio a malis Saga est utriusque; Et sine principe, ut a somno exsuscitem!"

I place all of my power on the spell onto Aurora. The curse is fighting back hard. I'd never through Maleficent's magic would actually be more powerful then the LeiShen power of the Hexicon.

After that spell has failed, I try a different one.

"In tenebris gravius bellum augetur. Sinite comminuet autem lux in maledictum:"

This spell sends rays of light into Aurora. Once they enter her, the body is shown to be shielded with dark magic. I struggle to keep the spell on hold. After a minute, the curse counter attacks and deflects the spell back at me. I was blown away and crash against the wall on the other side of the room.

Riku hurries to my side and help me stand. "It's no use. The curse is too powerful. Even I can't break it." I say.

Hearing me say that, the fairies are sent into depression. "Poor King Stefan. And the queen." Fauna says.

"They will be heart broken if they find out." Merryweather says, and we all agree. This is going to be grave news for the entire kingdom.

"Well, they are not going to." Flora says.

"Why'd you say that?" I ask.

"We're going to put them all to sleep." Flora's idea sends Sora, Riku, Aqua and I in a shock.

"Put them all to sleep?" I ask, speechless. "That's a bad idea. In case you have forgotten. This world is infected by the Nightmare! Putting everyone to sleep would only make the infection worse. Who knows what will happen!"

"Don't you worry, dear. Our spell will prevent the darkness in this world from creating nightmares. But only for a short time." Flora says.

"So, until then, we need to think of a plan and act fast." Riku says.

We all agree on the plan, but I have a bad feeling this is going to end horribly.

The fairies fly around the kingdom, placing a spell upon it to send everyone into a deep slumber. While they are casting the spell, the four of us remain in the tower, where it's safe, to think of a plan.

I've decided that we find Maleficent's fortress and we raid it. We will demand her to reverse the curse on Aurora. Aqua thinks it's reckless, and Sora sort of agrees. He sees Aqua's point but he also thinks it's our only opinion, and Riku is on my side on the plan. It's been decided. Once the spell is clear, we are raiding the Forbidden Mountain.

The fairies are taking a while to place their spell on the entire kingdom. On Flora's side, she's about to finish her job on applying the spell on the king and queen. However, she makes a shocking discovering.

One of the people, just as he was becoming sleepy, he was talking about Prince Philip falling in love with a peasant girl in the woods. Flora knows that Philip could be talking about Aurora. How many peasant girls are living in the woods these days?

Flora begs and shouts to know who is the girl, or where and when Philip met her. Just before he falls under the spell, his final words were: "Once upon a dream."

On that note, it hit Flora. Aurora is the peasant girl. Philip is the man Aurora met. They both have met in once upon a dream. Flora hurries back into the tower to met her sisters and the rest of us. She told us what she learned.

"That man we saw with Aurora...That was Philip?" Sora asks.

"It appears so. And all this time, Aurora has fallen in love with the prince." Flora says.

"That's...quite unfortunate." I say, then I just have a realization. "Wait a minute...didn't Aurora say anything about meeting him at the cottage?"

The fairies realize that what I say is true. "Oh heavens! That is right! We must hurry and warn him what has happened."

From what Flora told us, Aurora is put into a deep sleep and only a true loves first kiss can awaken her. Philip has become Aurora's true love. We must bring Philip back here before the Nightmare grows much worse with all these people sleeping.

We make our leave, once we are out of the tower, a dark aura coats Aurora, and the symbol of the Dream Eaters appears upon her.

* * *

We divided into two teams:

The fairies will hurry to the cottage to find Prince Philip. Sora, Riku, Aqua and I will head for the Forbidden Mountain to confront Maleficent. The Forbidden Mountain is pretty far from the kingdom. Not only that, but Dream Eaters are also appearing. Some places are breeding much more. I blame the fact that everyone is asleep. The nightmare is growing worse. We must awaken Aurora quickly.

The fairies make it to the cottage before we reach our destination. They hurry on inside, only to be horrified. All they found of Prince Philip is his hat. Which can only mean one thing:

"Maleficent!" They all say at once.

"She's got Prince Philip!" Merryweather says.

Flora is horrified as she speaks. "To the Forbidden Mountain. Hurry!" Lightning strikes at the very comment. That is just how dark and horrifying the Forbidden Mountain is. Even the fairies cannot go their, but they have no other choice but to go there and save Prince Philip.

Meanwhile, we have just arrived at the Forbidden Mountain. Just looking at it, and with the lightning strikes in the background. It's pretty frightening all right, even through none of us show any signs of fear.

"There it is...Maleficent's lair." I say.

"It's defiantly her type of style." Riku says, and it's very true.

I turn to Aqua. "Are you sure you want to come along? It's going to be very dangerous."

"I am not afraid. I want help out as much as I can." Aqua says.

I sigh. "Very well, but I can't grantee your safety." I say.

"Let's go. We don't have much time." Sora says.

We walk up the hill path towards Maleficent's fortress. There are no Dream Eaters, which is odd considering this is a nightmarish land. Or perhaps they are just too afraid of Maleficent to even come here. How silly that even Dream Eaters have fears.

We arrive at the gates of the evil castle. Instead of being greeted by Dream Eaters, we are greeted by Maleifcent's goons. Personally, they're not really much of a threat. They're small, look like ugly animals and they are pretty stupid. Even since they've spent 16 years searching for a baby and a baby only!

You would think they realize that Aurora is no longer a baby 16 years later. How stupid can they really be?

I must admit, the archers are hard to defeat, especially when at high places. I even risen an earth wall to block their arrows, and then Sora and I shoot Fire spells at them.

We have breached the gates and entered the castle. Something's not right. It's almost just too easy.

Our break in into the fortress is too easy as well. No Dream Eaters. Nothing but Maleficent's pathetic goons. In almost no time, we have reached Maleficent's throne. "Maleficent!" Sora shouts.

Maleficent sits upon her throne, looking down at the four of us. "Well, well. What have we here? The Keyblade wielders." Maleficent stands up, walking to the edge of the throne. "Do please excuse me for the mess. I wasn't expecting any...important company."

Well, that's just insulting. "You put a curse on Aurora! And now you are going to reserve it!" I ordered.

Maleficent just chuckles at my comment. "You fools really think you stand a chance against me? See for yourself! All the powers of Hell!"

Maleficent unleashes her power, enhanced in green flames. Maleficent blocks both exits with her hell flames. We all prepare ourselves for battle.

Maleficent's power is superior, I'll give her that.

Maleficent starts off with Ring of Hell, slam her staff on the ground. A ring of green fire extends through the ground. Riku blocks the incoming flames while Sora and I take the hits, and they burn like fire. Riku attacks Maleficent while the two of us takes the moment to recover.

Maleficent vanishes and reappears on the outer ring. I quickly recover and go after Maleficent. She sees me coming. I attack and then she blocks with her staff. She rebels me attack as she can scene Riku is about to attack her from behind. Maleficent raises her staff, channeling dark lightning. Unleashing Black Storm, several purple lights raining down around us.

Riku gets shocked and I dodge the lightnings, nearly at a close call on each evasion. Sora gets a target on Maleficent, unleashing a Blizzard spell on her. Maleficent saw it coming too late, then the freezing spell interrupts her focus. With Maleficent powerless, we al attack at once.

"You fools!" Before we made contact, Maleficent vanishes, and we all end up crashing into each other. Maleficent reappears in the center of the ring, she unleashes Dark Meteor. Several void portals appear and large blue enflamed meteors. The meteors come towards us.

"Scatter!" I ordered.

We all disband, avoiding the meteors as we try to make our way towards Maleficent. Sora and Riku are both doing fine job in avoiding. I just break my way through the meteors with my two Keyblades, enhanced in earth power and strength.

Sora and Riku were both the first to reach Maleficent. Just attack, but Maleficent does Cackling Lightning, shoots dark lightning from her hands, at them. Sora and Riku suffer greatly from the electricity. I break my way through the meteors and attack Maleficent, rushing towards her then jump kick her, interrupting her spell on my friends.

I stand against Maleficent, my Keyblades held out. "You are powerful, young one. I expect nothing less from Yen Sid's pupil."

"I'm just getting warmed up." I position myself for another attack. I leap towards Maleficent. She uses Cackling Lightning to stun me and launch me to the center with of the ring, along with Sora and Riku.

"Oh. It seems you all are worn out. Fortunately, I know the perfect place for you all to rest." Maleficent raises her staff. Lightning strikes down, surrounding us, opening a hole in the ground, and taking us all in it.


	12. Breaking the Curse

**A/N: Maleficent is powerful indeed. It's as if we are no match for her. We need to undo the curse she has put on Aurora quick before the Nightmare grows much worse for the world. Makes me wish this was a game, would be pretty interesting. And I'm not talking about playing as myself, but what I'm talking about is the whole journey of the Nightmares invading the real world.**

World: Enchanted Dominion

* * *

We were just fighting Maleficent. We almost had her until she lured us into a trap. Maleficent used her magic to open a hole that drops us all the way to the dungeon right underneath her throne.

"Well, that's just great." I say.

"There's no way we can make Maleficent lift the curse. Coming here was a waste." Riku says.

"We had to do something." Sora asks.

Aqua's lucky she didn't fall in with us. She wasn't in the battle. Then again, she's in danger wondering Maleficent's fortress on her own. She can't walk and the poison has weaken her powers. Not to mention the paralysis medicine is about to wear off soon.

However, we notice that we are not alone in this dungeon. On the other end is the boy from the forest. He is sitting on the bench, his wrists bound to the wall in chains. We all realize that is Prince Philip. The one who can wake Aurora up from her curse of slumber.

"Who are you?" Philip asks.

"My name is Patrick." I say, then I introduce Sora and Riku. "This is Sora and Riku...We were just fighting Maleficent, but it looks like we got caught in some trap."

"Maleficent is powerful and sneaky. We underestimated her." Riku says.

Sora looks at Philip. "Why are you here?"

"To prevent me from breaking her evil curse." Philip says.

He explains that he is to meet a beautiful girl at the cottage in the glen, but she lay lies in an eternal slumber. There's really no need to tell us that. We were pretty much there the whole time when he and Aurora met as regular people. We pretty much know about Maleficent's curse and how to reverse it.

"Yeah, well now we are all trapped here." I say as I try to break the door open.

"Can't we just unlock it with the Keyblade?" Sora asks, then he summons his Keyblade.

"You think I haven't tried? Maleficent used her dark magic to seal the locks from the inside. The Keyblade cannot break it." I say. In frustration, I kick at the door. I know it's not gonna break it down. I'm just upset.

We now wait, sitting around in this dungeon. Aqua is still out there, alone. That just has me worried. We need to get out of here soon, to find Aqua and get prince Phillip to Aurora. But we cannot break out of his prison. The fairies would have noticed Philip is missing, they'll probably come looking for us soon.

If only...

Riku starts to get impatient. He even starts wasting his energy trying to break down the prison door. But he is not having any luck. "Don't waste your energy. There's no why to break Maleficent's magic."

"We have to get out of here somehow." Riku says.

Just as we are sitting around stuck in this prison, the sound of powerful magic hits our ears. It's coming from the outside, and it sounds very close. When it stops, we are left confused. "What was that?" I ask.

We have no clue. Then are we caught by surprise when the dungeon door opens. It is Aqua. "There you guys are. I finally fought you."

"What took you so long?" Sora asks.

"And how did you fight your way around Maleficent's forces?" I ask.

Aqua wheels herself right in, and the three fairies fly right inside. That explains my question about how she got around. And I'm also guessing that the good fairies have used their magic to break the spell on the door. To be honest, that kind of upsets me since my magic is just as powerful then those three. Probably even more with the power of the Hexicon.

That aside, we free Philip from his shackles. It's time for us to get out of here. "Now Philip." Flora warns Philip. "The road to true love maybe barred by many dangers which you alone will have to face." Oh great. We are going to be on the sidelines while prince charming here gets to have all the fun... "Now, come along. We must hurry to Aurora."

She's right. They're magics protection are not gonna hold the Nightmare off for long. Soon, all the sleeping citizens of the kingdom with fallen into a chaotic nightmare.

The fairies created a powerful sword and shield for Prince Philip to use on his journey. I guess he'l have to fight, even with the three of us. And I was just gonna have him pull Aqua.

I take a peek outside of the dungeon. So far, it seems clear. We make our leave, moving quickly before we get caught...again.

There is not much of Maleficent's goons in the dungeon halls. They are mostly alone, or alone in blinding far spots of each other in the same room. We take them out, one by one. Each of our next targets completely unaware of our escape.

Our escape eventually takes us back to Maleficent's throne. Maleficent is no where to be found, that's surprising but it's good. The last thing we need is another defeat from her. We make our move and leave the fortress. As soon as we reach the outside, it was us who are caught by surprise.

An army of Maleficent's goons, standing out with their weapons out, and the gates are close. "I think things just got really bad." Sora says.

I summon both of my Keyblades. I'm fired up for combat. "Take them down! Get the gates open!"

Aqua stays behind with the fairies while the rest of us take care of Maleficent's goons. I fight in bersekers strength and speed. Nothing is gonna stand in my way. Philip is doing a fine job in fighting too. He even blocks the arrows and arrows coming at him with his shield.

Riku focuses on taking care of the gate. Sora gives him a jumping boost and he lands on the guard walls. He runs down the aisle, cutting down any enemies in his way. He reaches the gate wheel and turns it, opening the gates.

"It's open! Let's move!" I shout, and we all do. More of Maleficent's goons awaits for us on the next area of the courtyard. No matter. These creatures are no match for us. If anything, they're pathetic enemies. Not really worth our time. But they are if they're going to interfere with our mission to wake up Aurora and put an end to the Nightmare in this world.

Riku, Philip and I hold off the enemies while Sora looks for the switch for the next gate. It's been located on one of the towers. Sora leaps on and runs up the tower, jumps into the window. He takes out a small group of archers within the tower and spins the wheel. The gates open and we make our escape.

Only one gate remains. This final area in the courtyard is full of Maleficent's goons. I take out my Hexicon and chant an earth spell on them. "Et incarnatus est de crystallo terrae! Fac ut sentiat ira mea!" My right fist becomes coated in crystallization. I slam the ground with my immense strength, unleashing a wave wrath with crystals shooting right out. Maleficent's goons become either impaled or knocked away by the crystal wave.

The wave didn't get far in the courtyard. The last few waves of enemies will remain active. But it's good enough for Sora and Riku to handle while I take care of the last gate.

The last switch is right on the wall next to the gate, guarded by a group of goons. There's my target. With a burst of speed, I rush towards the enemy, gather them with Magnet then burn them with Dual Fire Raid. They still live, so I finish them off with Spark Dive, leaping high and dive strike upon them with light energy.

With the goons defeated, I turn the wheel and the gates open.

"Come on guys! We're good to go!" I shout.

Sora and Riku finish off their enemies and they make a run for it, along with Philip and the fairies with Aqua. Maleficent watches us from the top of her fortress. She doesn't look made, just looking down at us. "Hmph. It seems I have underestimated them." When will she ever learn to never doubt a Keyblade wielder? Or three of them, and one of us is a powerful LeiShen, at that matter. "No matter. They'll never make it in time."

The second we make it out of the Forbidden Mountain, we rest in the forest to catch our breath. "We...made it." Sora says.

"You were all very lucky to have escape." Merryweather says.

"Indeed. Maleficent is not one who let's her prisoners escape so easily." Fauna says.

"Excuse me. I know we're exhausted from trying to escape...but we need to wake up the princess and the kingdom before it's too late." Aqua says.

She is right. This is not the time to rest. "Agreed. Let us hurry to the kingdom."

We hurry though the forest. Even in a hurry, that doesn't stop the Dream Eaters from attacking us. "We don't have time to mess with you!" I say as I slash the Meow Wow. Sora and Riku both handle the rest of the Dream Eaters. Philip does not do much fighting against these dark creatures. He has no experience dealing with Dream Eaters.

We fight our way through the forest, then we arrive on the bridge of the kingdom. Maleficent watches up from above. Right below the nightmarish skies. She is not happy that we are gonna make it.

"A forest of thorns shall be your tomb!" Maleficent starts channeling her dark magic. "Wound round the castle in a bower of doom!" Maleficent unleashes her power, summoning countless thorns that surrounds the castle and the bridge.

We take notice of the sudden change of scenery. "Oh great. Maleficent's on to us. Can this get any worse?" I ask.

While I'm focusing on the thorns, everyone else looks ahead at the castle, horrified. "Umm...Patrick?"

I look ahead, and I am shocked as well. The castle is shrouded in nightmare darkness, enormous thorns even. But not only that, but there's a large monster in the kingdom. It spreads it wings and raises it's head.

It's a dragon Dream Eater.

Kaiserragoon.

"That's...a big Dream Eater." Riku says.

My fear suddenly turns to rage and i turn to the fairies. "I told you three putting the entire kingdom to sleep was a bad idea."

The large Dream Eater stands on the kingdom walls and buildings. It roars fierce as it looks down at us. We all summon our Keyblades. Kaiserragoon does not do anything, just stands there on the kingdom walls. Suddenly, dark magic appears in front of us. Once it clears, it reveals to be none other then Maleficent.

"Well. It seems that I have underestimated you three." Maelficent says. "I honestly thought my spell would have kept you all contained while my plan falls into place."

"I knew it. You are behind the Nightmare, aren't you?" I ask.

Maleficent chuckles. "Foolish boy. I was never behind the Nightmare. However, when it came, it's dark power intredge me. Then I met the one who's behind this darkness. A certain mysterious boy in a mask."

I know who's the one she's talking about. "Xusvent."

"Indeed." Maleficent says. "He recognized my dark power of sleep, so he gave me the power to control Dream Eaters, so that I may rule all worlds in the darkness of the Nightmare!"

"Not if we stop you!" Sora says.

"I would like to see you try." Maleficent vanishes. "Go and face the Nightmare! You will all fall into the abyss just like Aurora!" Maleficents cruel cackling barks loud, even after she disappears.

The second the laughing dies down, Kaiserragoon steps down from the walls and approaching us. "Guys! It's coming!" Aqua warns us.

We slowly back up as the large Dream Eater draws closer to us. "Fairies! Get Philip to Aurora! Wake her up!"

The fairies salutes. "Come along, Prince Philip!"

While the fairies are taking Philip to Aurora, we will handle the large Dream Eater.

I activate my D-link with Chantal, unleashing the power of magic and music. Sora and Riku both already attack the large Dream Eater. Once I'm powered up, I join in on the assault as well. Kaiserragoon does not do much attacking from the start. Just snap its jaws or swipe its claw at us.

We block the swipes, but the bites were pretty much hard. Sora and Riku got bitten, but I dodge away before the teeth meets my flesh. Riku does Strike Raid then Dusk, causing him to enter Darkest Shadow. Sora just attacks then cast Fire and Blizzard spells. I attack with my Dual Blades then unleash holy spells and attacks.

From the first we have the fight under control, but as Kaiserragoon suffers more it becomes stronger and more fierce. This is one Nightmare I've never take that grows stronger with each damage it takes.

Kaiserragoon starts charging up its breath attack. I take notice of its next attack. "Get back!" Sora and Riku get back and I spin the two Keyblades in front of me very fast, forming a barrier in front. The Dream Eater unleashes its fiery breath. I stand my ground and block the fire. It's powerful, I can barely hold it back.

While the Dream Eater is focused on breathing, Sora and Riku leaps high over the flames and attacks it from the head. Its breath attack is cancelled once the two Keyblade wielders jump on its head.

I take a moment to recover then I continue attacking. Riku unleashes his full power in Darkest Shadow. Kaiserragoon suffers much damage, but it still stands.

Prince Philip hurries up the stairs in the castle. The inside of the kingdom is just as horrifying as the Nightmare itself. Even in the darkest of fears, the young prince presses onward to break the curse.

Sora and Riku hold back both claws of the Dream Eater while I'm attacking it head on. The two hardly stand their ground as they slowly slide back trying to resist the powerful force.

"It's too strong!" Sora shouts.

"We have to defeat it! For the sake of the world!" I say. I unleash powerful magic that Chantal can grant me. She may not be a fighter, but she has a strong heart and quite a spirit.

Kaiserragoon bites at me several times, most of them I dodge and counterstrike at the same time. I freeze the head in place with Deep Freeze, then attack rapidly with Melody Dance. On my final strike, the ice shatters and the Dream Eater roars viciously.

"I think we just made it mad." I say.

Kaiserragoon inhales, sucking the air all around. Sora, Riku and I get caught in the sucking current, but we stand our ground hard, I use my earth powers to root my feet into the bridge. After inhaling a large amount of air, its begins to unleash a powerful dark arcane breath attack.

"Get behind me!" I shout. Sora and Riku gets behind me. My Keyblades float around me as I take out the Hexicon and begin the high defense spell. "Cum potestate terrae ferro procul da nobis defensionis potestatem Adamantoise!" My Keyblades form an X in front me us and spin rapidly fast. Riku uses his dark magic to form a Dark Shield with mine, and I use another chant to fuse his Dark Shield with my D-link Chantal magic. "Fortitudo cordis, virtus Dismension Link. Fuse meum Riku magica tenebris ad lucem, et de Chantal spiritu!"

The holy light of my D-link fuses with Riku's dark magic and my defense spell, creating a large indestructible magical shield. The second it's all up, Kaiserragoon unleashes its ultimate breath attack. Breath of Abyssal Fears.

The blast blows us back a couple of feet, but we still stand our ground, resisting with all of our strength. The ultimate attack is taking longer then we thought. And the longer we hold it back, the more our strength drains and the barrier weakens.

"It's...too...strong!" Sora says.

"Hold on! Just a little! Longer!" I shout.

The barrier weakens and the breath attack is hardly close to ending. After a minute, the second it stops, the magic barrier shatters and we all get knocked back. We were blow all the way to the other side of the bridge, and the blast damaged us severely, took so much of our strength, we fall unconscious.

Prince Philip makes it all the way to Aurora's Chambers. Once he is in, he can see that Aurora is shrouded in darkness, of both Nightmare and Thorns. The fairies use their magic to help Philip fight through the darkness Aurora's sleep is unleashing. Once he makes it through, he gives Aurora her true loves kiss.

Light shines on the kiss, glowing brighter and brighter. The Dream Eater is right in front of us as we start to get up. We can only get up on her hands and knees, enough to see the large Dream Eater over us. We are doomed...At least that's what we thought.

The light shines from the highest tower of the castle. We all look at it, and the Dream Eater turns and look at it in worry. If the Dream Eater is concern about the light, that must mean it's the Nightmare's defeat. That Aurora has awaken.

The light shines brightly, spreads through the entire darkness that shrouds this whole area. The Dream Eater roars in agony, and the light becomes blinding, we had to look away from it.

There's white nothingness, but once it clears, the whole is back to normal, excluding the Nightmarish skies. Basically, it's back to the way it was when we first arrived. What's more is that our wounds have healed and our strength has returned.

"What...just happened?" Riku asks.

"Aurora has awaken." I say.

What I say is true. Once the darkness clears, the first thing that happens is Aurora opens her eyes, and the fairies remove their sleeping spell from the rest of the kingdom.

"Looks like the Nightmare is no longer a threat here." Aqua says.

"Indeed. Now that it's weaken, it's time to drive it back." I say.

From saying that, a bright light appears above us. The light forms as the Keyhole. Sora, Riku and I summon our Keyblades, aim and shoot a beam of light. The Keyhole locks and the bright light banishes the Nightmare from this world.

Four down. Only Nine more to go.


	13. Dream Festival

**A/N:** **Four Keyholes are already locked. The Nightmare might be losing the battle. However, it's only just begun. We now move on to our next world. It's already happened during Birth By Sleep. So I think it would be the perfect world/event for a story of the Nightmare.**

World: Disney Town

* * *

Four worlds at already cursed from the infection of the nightmare. Which means there are nine Keyholes left. I have no worry about the Nightmare stopping us. My mind is too focused on our enemies:

The Onyx Nightmare.

They're all Nobodies. Nobodies of my people who were turned to Heartless from the Shadowmoon's attack. How am I gonna fight and defeat them? It's already painful enough to watch them suffer at the hands of Rasputin and the Shadowmoon. I know I already defeated their Heartless when they became that Ragnarok monster, and defeating their Nobodies would probably return them to their original state.

But still, it scares me to see them die before my very eyes again.

We arrive at the world Disney Town. We approach at the castle thinking the source of the Nightmare would be here, trying to destroy the castle and the Cornerstone of Light. But to our surprise, the castle is completely unharmed.

While the whole world is infested by the nightmare, the Castle isn't. Even the very skies above it at clear blue instead of nightmarish black-red.

"How is that possible?" Aqua asks.

"It's probably the Cornerstone." I say. "It is being used to protect the castle from the darkness. Guess it works on the Nightmare too."

"Which means searching here is pointless. What now?" Riku asks.

"Let's start searching in the town. Maybe we'll find a clue." I say.

The town isn't too far from the castle. On the way, there are no Dream Eaters. It's weird. How can a Nightmarish world be lacking Dream Eaters? Maybe they're afraid of the Cornerstone of Light. Or perhaps they're focused on trying to get into the castle to destroy it. Then again if that second part were true, we'd see them at the gates. Not to mention it'll be impossible since it's light will wipe them out.

We arrive at the town, only to hear screams of help and fear. That has us on alert and we hurry into town. Inside, some event is going on. But it's hard to tell since most of the decorations are ruinned.

The citizens of the town are fleeing for they are being chased by creatures of the Nightmare. "Dream Eaters!" I say.

As the terrorism goes on, there are two people fighting. A certain short tempered duck and a silly...whatever kind of creature he is. Sora is most surprise to see them. "Donald! Goofy!"

Goofy blocks three Dream Eaters and holds them back. He looks at our direction, excited. "Sora!"

While he's distracted, a group of Dream Eaters leaps onto him. Donald is not doing to hot either. With quick thinking, I rush in and attack the Dream Eaters. In a single slash, all of them are defeated. Donald and Goofy recover from the attack, but quickly fall down once Sora leaps onto them in excitement.

They all laugh with joy. "It's so good to see you guys again!" Sora says.

"It's good to see you too, Sora!" Goofy says.

While they are enjoying their moment, I interrupted. "I hate to interrupt this...lovely reunion. But we have a situation here."

All around us, Dream Eaters are attacking the city. "He's right. We need to protect the town."

Realizing the Situation, we help Donald and Goofy fight off the Dream Eaters. I stay close to Aqua to protect her from the monsters. The Dream Eaters here are tough, even harder when we're also trying to safe the helpless, defenseless citizens. But we fight through it.

Dream Eaters are no challenge for me. I'm at my full power with Dual Wielding two Keyblades, while D-linking with Noctis. They are no match for my strength and speed.

We defeated the Dream Eaters in no time. Donald and Goofy had a tough time during the fights. They are no use to fighting Dream Eaters, not like as they were at fighting the Heartless. The citizens of the town calm down as soon as the last of the Dream Eaters are defeated. But they cannot be at ease seeing the Nightmare in the sky.

"Oh my. You're here." We're all surprised to hear that voice. Aqua, a bit late since she hardly recognized it.

Queen Minnie approaches. "Minnie!" I say.

Donald and Goofy salutes before her. "Your majesty Queen Minnie!"

Minnie smiles as she turns to us. "It's such a surprise to see you have arrived."

"You are pretty much lucky we did." I say. "What has happened out here?"

"We don't know what exactly is going on. The sky's suddenly turned evil, and these creatures appear...What are they? I know they're not the Heartless."

We explain to Minnie what has happened. About the barriers between the realm of the wake and the dream realm have shattered, and the Nightmare is infecting upon multiple worlds. Minnie is pretty horrified hearing such a thing, even though we are already handling the situation.

Minnie told us what is going on here, how there's a festival going on in the town. The Dream Festival. While they're making preparations, the Dream Eaters attacked. And I found out way. It's the Dream Festival itself. Not only that, it's also because of the main event:

"The Million Dreams Award." I say. "So that's why the Dream Eaters attacked." Dream Eaters have a nature to consume anything in dream, for it is the mental source of light. Just as the nightmare is the mental source of darkness. "If there are Dream Eaters causing trouble in town, we'll help out."

"That would be wonderful." Minnie tells us.

Minnie explains to use that there are Dream Eaters attacking multiple places. The Rumble Racing. Fruitball. And the Carnival. We've decided to split roles. I handle the Rumble Racing. Riku Fruitball and Sora the Carnival. Aqua stays in the Central Plaza and help Minnie with the decorating.

At the top of the bell tower, Pete and Xusvent stands looking down at the town. "This is no fair! They completely banned me from the festival!" Peta says. "That prize belongs to me and me only!"

"Indeed it should." Xusvent's mask releases steam through the teeth. "They won't let you have it. So, if you want something...you take it."

"It will be mine all right! I'll crush the whole festival if I have to!" Pete says.

"My Dream Eaters will help you claim your desires." Xusvent casts a dark spell on Pete, granting him the power to control the Dream Eaters. "Have fun." Then he vanishes into the darkness.

* * *

Pokadashs, Cheetah Dream Eater, run across the track of the Rumble Racing at high speed. I chase after them on my Hoverbike. I volunteer to take the Rumble Race cause only I get to drive the Hoverbike. As the chase the Dream Eaters, I shoot at them with the lasers on the Hoverbike.

The Pokadashs are fast. I can barely make aim. So far, I've manage to destroy one of them. I only have about three laps to defeat these creatures. Chasing them is rough on a course. A lot of sharp turns and ramps that takes incredible speed to make it through.

While I'm handling the Ramble Racing, Riku is handling things on his own at the Fruitball court. Dream Eaters are attacking everything, even the giant fruits that are suppose to be use for sport. The weirdest thing is that the Kooma Panda's are eating the fruits. I suppose that's predictable. They are pandas after all.

Riku attacks the Dream Eaters in his Vemonscythe Command Style. His poison attacks harm the Dream Eaters greatly. Not only that, but he also unleashes Zero Gravity and Dusk spells on them.

Riku seems to have everything under control, but there are most Dream Eaters then he could keep busy.

Meanwhile, Sora is taking care of the Dream Eaters at the carnival. Dream Eaters are everywhere, and they are attacking everything. Citizens. Booths. Rides. Everything. Sora tries his hardest to fight off the Dream Eaters. His battles are hard since his special power is Limits, and that'll only work when he's paired with Riku or I.

He strikes the Dream Eaters on the ground with his Keyblades while using his magic to shoot down the flying Dream Eaters. Sora is defeating the creatures of darkness, one-by-one. But there are still dozens at large. He moves as fast as he can to stop their attacks, or defeat them to move one to the next one.

"Hold still you speed demons!" I shout as I shoot at the Pokadashs. I'm down to the final lap of the race. Only three of them remain. We are approaching at the Zigzag lane of the course. The turns are pretty sharp, I don't even know how the Dream Eaters can run through this with no struggle.

When we made it though, the Pokadashs are already twice the distance they were before. Shooting them for here would be pointless. I need to get closer. Or perhaps...

I remember a range spell in the Hexicon. I chant the spell as I take out my two Keyblades and spin them really fast. The left one is enhanced in fire magic and the left one in ice magic. And I shoot the two Keyblades at them. They both hit the Pokadashs in the left and right, and then they fly back to me.

I aim directly for the last Dream Eater and shoot. Before it even has the chance to cross the finish line, it's been destroyed. I cross the finish line just as it's been destroyed. Winning first place.

Riku decided that if he is going to defeat the Dream Eaters on the court of Fruitball, he should play the sport itself against them.

"Take this!" He shoots a giant watermelon at two Keeba Tiger's. Few Dream Eaters remain. Riku blocks the incoming grapes thrown by the Cera Terror. The grapes break apart, and Riku shoots dozens of the pod balls of grapes. That takes out the Keeba Tigers and a Cera Terror. The Kooma Panda's just eat the on coming fruit. It looks like Riku is not gonna defeat them with fruit. It's a shame.

After wiping out the other Dream Eaters, he charges head on and faces the Kooma Pandas. The Dream Eaters fight back, only to have their attacks blocked by Dark Shield or dodged. When there's an opening, he attacks the Dream Eaters with fire magic and Maelstrom attack.

He defeats the Kooma Pandas. "Eat it!"

Now it's just Sora who's handling the Dream Eaters. He fights against a large Zolephant. Sora strikes it hard with his Keyblade. Being large and sturdy, the Dream Eater could hardly be moved by force or attack. Whenever the Zolephant attacks, Sora blocks with his Keyblade then counter attacks.

Up ahead, there are Dream Eaters on the tracks. They do not pay attention as they attack the pillars the hold this roller coster. Those Dream Eaters end up getting destroyed by getting crushed by the incoming roller coster car.

Sora defeats the Zolephant, then he stands on the head of the car and he rapidly shoots his fire magic on the incoming Dream Eaters that are on the track. Each of the Dream Eaters are taken out with a single fireball. By the end of the ride, Sora has defeated all the Dream Eaters.

After he gets off the ride, he looks around. "Guess that's the last of them."

* * *

With Dream Eaters defeated in each of the areas, we gather and return to the Central Plaza The decorating is going very well. Aqua sure is doing a great job despite being stuck to a wheelchair.

"Thank you so much for helping out the town." Minnie says. "I'm sure everyone will vote for you three."

"Uh...vote?" I ask.

Minnie nods. "That's right. For the Milllion Dreams Award. We all vote for who we think the most admirable citizen is. And whoever receives the most votes wins the Million Dreams Award and the grand prize."

I can only imagine what the prize is. "Well, we would be honored to attend, but we are here to find the Keyhole and banish the Nightmare from this world." I say.

"Aw, come on. We can stay here for a while." Sora says.

"He does have a point. More Dream Eaters might appear and attack the festival." Riku says.

It's true that the Dream Eaters will return. They'll keep attacking the Dream Festival since it's in their nature to devour the dreams. I sigh. "Fine. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to stick around for the festival."

While Minnie and Aqua are setting up the festival, Sora, Riku and I help out Donald and Goofy keeping watch and guard for anymore Dream Eaters. So far, no more appeared. They're probably afraid of us. While we're on guard, I think deeply about where the Keyhole could be.

It must be somewhere around this town. It's gotta be. The Keyhole is where the Dream Eaters are most likely to be. Dream Eaters are mainly around this festival because of it's dream. Which means the Keyhole has to be here.

We'll just have to keep looking.

It's nearly about time for the festival to start.

All of the citizens are excited for the festival. The three of us still keeps watch for any Dream Eaters. As we keep guard, Mickey suddenly shows up. When he arrives, he seems worried, but then relaxes as soon as he gets here.

"Your majesty?" Sora says, surprised.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I received a letter from Minnie. I hear the Dream Festival was under attack, so I hurried here as fast as I can to help out." Mickey says. Mickey looks around town. "But it looks like everything is settled."

"There were Dream Eaters here, Mickey. But we had everything under control." I say.

"We've been keeping a look out as the festival goes on. So far, no sign of them." Sora says.

"Keep an eye out. More will come." Riku says.

Mickey smiles with a nod. "Great. I'll help out as well."

While we are having our conversation, we have the screams of citizens panicking. "What was that?" I ask.

Even Donald panics. "The queen!"

We hurry to the center of the central plaza, where the Million Dreams Award takes place. When we arrive, we see that Minnie is in danger. Not from Dream Eaters. But from the leader of the Onyx Nightmare. "Xusvent!"

Xusvent stands, holding Minnie with one arm. "Minnie!" Mickey summons his golden Keyblade and leap attacks. However, Mickey hits some dark force field that protects the Nightmarish Nobody and repels Mickey in pain.

"Mickey!" Riku moves up front and catches Mickey.

Xusvent looks down at us with those burning red eyes. "So...You are the king of this...dream-filled world...How pathetic." And his eyes beams a bright glow.

"What is it that you want?" I shout at him.

"I already told you. I want this world, all worlds, to drown in the Nightmarish Abyss." Xusvent says. "If I wish for that to happen, then all dreams must be devoured by the darkness. A not single shred of its light will live."

"We don't care what it is that you want! Just hand over the queen!" Sora snaps at him.

Xusvent laughs at Sora's demand. "Sorry. But I cannot. But I will take a parting gift." A dark corridor appears behind Xusvent and he steps back into it.

"Wait!" Donald rushes forward to stop him. But by the time he reaches them, they're gone and he falls face-plant on stage. Donald pulls his upper body up. "Nuts! He got away!"

Just when we think it cannot get any worse, it just did. Countless Dream Eaters appears, completely surrounding us. "Oh great." Looks like Xusvent left us some of his friends. I summon both of my Keyblades. "Just what we need."


	14. The Million Dreams Award

**A/N: Queen Minnie is kidnapped. This is not good. Now they are going have to save her before the end of the Dream Festival. Let's see how this all goes.**

World: Disney Town

* * *

Xusvent has kidnapped Queen Minnie and, to make his get away, leaves behind a massive horde of Dream Eaters for us to battle. Fighting a ton of Dream Eaters has been quite a struggle. Xusvent's Dream Eaters are powerful creatures. Sora and Riku hold off against one while I'm up against two or three. Donald and Goofy both can hardly fight off.

Mickey is doing the best he can to help the citizens of the festival, for they are being chased in fear by the Dream Eaters.

Under all this, none of us could take off our minds that Queen Minnie has been kidnapped. But with that thought it gives us a reason to fight off these beasts. Once we're done with them, we'll go save the queen.

After a while, we've defeated the Dream Eaters. The festivel suffered a lot of damages during the fight.

"Oh gosh. The festival is ruined." Mickey says.

I look on the stage where Queen Minnie was taken. "What is Xusvent up to? What does he want with the queen?"

"Who cares about that? We have to rescue her." Riku says.

He's certainly right. So we decided teams. Aqua stays behind and help fix up the festival. Donald and Goofy will guard the town, not like they're gonna be able to hold off the Dream Eaters. Sora, Riku and I will go and find Minnie. Mickey is coming along with us. He wants to save his queen.

Xusvent has taken Minnie to the Swallow Falls, a cliff with a very huge, very tall waterfall. Anybody who would be stupid enough to even dare to ride these waterfalls, or anyone who gets caught in the waterfall, never survives. Just Minnie's luck, Xusvent has her in a bondage, hanging right over the edge of the waterfall.

The mouse queen is screaming, for help and out of fear. "Oh quit screaming. I have no intention of killing you."

Even hearing that, it doesn't calm her down. Being hanged over a 500 foot drop waterfall is pretty horrifying. "Just what is it that you want from me?"

"Oh. It's not what I want. It's what my old comrade wants." Xusvent says. "I just need to keep you here until he gets his reward at the Dream Festival."

Minnie gasps. She knows exactly who it is. "Pete!"

"And once he is done with the festival, I will shatter the joy and happiness of the town and drain it all in the darkness of the nightmare." Steam blows right out of the masks teeth, then Xusvent vanishes.

Minnie is left hanging. She's in depression, the Festival is in danger. She can only hope that Mickey and the rest of us will handle the situation. Little does she know we're actually coming for her.

"So where do you suppose he could have taken Minnie?" Riku asks as he looks over the horizon outside of town.

"I say our best bet is Swallow Falls over there." Mickey says, pointing at a waterfall far from here.

Judging by the distance and the small view of the waterfall, it must be pretty big. And if Xusvent would really take Minnie there, pretty deadly and scary.

"Worth checking out. Let's move." I say.

We all make our way to Swallow Falls. Any Dream Eaters that stands our way, we cut them down. We refuse to lead these creatures stop us from saving the queen. Mickey and I take the lead on the attacks. Riku and Sora both handle any enemies from the side or that tried to ambush us from behind.

Riku fights in Dragonslayer, which is a Fire, Ice and Lightning Commando Style he has learned from the world of Enchanted Dominion. Sora fights with all of his strength and magic, once and a while does Limit performances with Riku or I. Mickey can take care of himself against the Dream Eaters, with all his years of training and the power of light magic.

We came across several crossroads in the way, most of them we have no idea we should take. Not even Mickey knows. He's never even been to Swallow Falls. You would think being the King he would know every single direction of his entire world.

Like I'm one to talk, a lost and forgotten prince abandoning his entire kingdom.

"I just hope the Queen is all right." Riku says.

"She might be. But we can't predict what Xusvent might actually plan to do with her." Sora says.

"He's right. We have to prepare for the worst." I say. And Mickey doesn't even like the sound of that. I can sense his worries. "Don't let fear cloud your mind. That is what Xusvent wants."

As we travel, we get lost a few times. We follow the paths that is crawling with Dream Eaters. Where there are dream Eaters, there is Xusvent.

We arrive at the bottom of the massive waterfall. Sora and Riku looks around. I look up, squinting my eyes to look as high as I can. I can't see the very top of the cliff or the falls. From down it, it's like it's dropping from the heavens. Or in the case of the nightmarish sky, a dark and scary world from above.

"They must be at the top. It's the scariest place around here." I say.

"Let's hurry." Mickey says.

There's a single uphill road right next to the cliff. We follow the path. Dream Eaters stand in our way. Even when we're so close to finding Minnie, we have no choice but to fight.

During the fight, Riku unleashes Dragonslayer, enhancing his Keyblade with the three elements and unleash several heavy slashes then ends with unleashing a wave of fire, ice and lightning in a 180 degree angle in front of him. I'm half surprised it's not advanced.

After defeating the Dream Eaters, we hurry our way to the top of the hill. Minnie is screaming as she is dangling in a bondage. There are countless Dream Eaters at the edge of the cliff, some of them trying to bite on the pole that is holding Minnie right over her 500 feet drop of doom.

We arrive to see Minnie's situation. "Minnie!" Mickey shouts.

I take the lead and summon my Keyblade. "Back off you parasites!" I shout at the Dream Eaters.

That catches their attention and they leave Minnie be at her slightly unstable dangling pole.

Minnie seems fine for a short time, so we make haste in battling the Dream Eater. At least we hope so cause with each horde of Dream Eaters defeated, more and more appear to take their place.

I use my D-link to activate my link with Noctis, then I annihilate Dream Eaters with my immense strength and speed. Mickey fights his hardest knowing the Minnie is close and in danger. Sora and Riku both do their Limit ability, Session. Under all that, countless Dream Eaters keep coming at us.

Xusvent must have known we were coming. This is obviously a trap he set up for us.

Minnie screams as she suddenly felt an instant drop. She looks up to see that the rope is breaking. "Please hurry!" She shouts.

We can barely keep up. The enemies we're facing are Aura Lions, Cera Terrors and Drill Syes. They are powerful Dream Eaters. They're going to be difficult to defeat.

Minnie lets out another shout and we all look to see the rope's about to snap. "Minnie!" Minnie goes after her, but two Keeba Tigers appear and they block his path. I see Mickey and Minnie's situations and act me. I zigzag through the Dream Eaters, then leap and hop over the monsters, head to head.

The rope snaps and Minnie screams as she falls. I channel a Hexicon spell while I'm hurrying over to the edge of the cliff.

"Eck skete aftor el!"

The second I finish the chant, I'm on the edge and I shoot a magic grip down. I dives faster then Minnie falls, eventually grabbing the queen. With all my strength, I yank hard and Minnie flies high. Minnie high up I can't even see her anymore and her screams fade away. Dream Eaters come at me, so I focus on them instead. I keep my mind focused. My eyes on the enemy, my ears focused for Minnie's incoming screams, and my instincts sharp to support both.

Minnie's fainted screams reaches my ears and I know she's coming down. I finish off the Dream Eaters, for some of them, just hit them hard enough to repel them. I catch Minnie, she lands safely in my arms. "Just dropping by, your masjey?" I ask her, with a small joke in my tone.

Minnie is calm, but she then shortly panics at once. "Look out!"

I look up and my instincts take over. I drop Minnie next to me and then block the incoming attack from the Fearbird, which is a large Dream Eater in the form of a Raven. "Get behind me, Queen Minnie!"

We fight with all of our strength against these monsters. This is an intense battle. The waves of Dream Eaters that are coming at us are none stop. This is defiantly a trap. It's almost like...Xusvent is trying to keep us occupied. Lured us away from the city and then attack it. That's gotta be it.

Finally, we are surrounded. The horde of Dream Eaters all around the cliff are endless. We can't defeat this many, even against the race of time.

"There are too many! Fall back!" Mickey says.

"I'll keep them busy!" I say, as I take out my Hexicon and slip through the pages.

Sora, Riku and Mickey retreat with Minnie. I hold my hand out, holding the Hexicon on my other arm, and chant the level 7 defense spell.

"Nam de terra ferrum et chalybs mente et voluntate. Da mihi parietem perditionem!" magic line draws, from one end to the other of the exit route. Dream Eaters charge and leap towards me. They plan to attack me, but instead, they crash into an invisible magic wall that sudden appeared before them.

With the barrier containing them at bay, I make my retreat as well.

We ran until we reach the bottom of the waterfall, right by the river. Once we reach our destination, we are all exhausted. All that fighitng really took it out on us.

"That...was close." Sora says.

"No kidding..." Riku says.

Minnie and Mickey both have they're reunion, not even worrying that the rest of us are around. "Minnie! I'm glad you're all right." Mickey says.

"Oh Mickey. Thank you for coming to rescue me." Minnie ends their hug. "But we don't have much time. We need to head back into town."

"Why? What's going on?" Sora asks.

"Isn't it obvious?" We are all started by the new voice that filled the conversation. Up on one of the terraces of the cliff, Xusvent stands there, looking down at us. "This whole rescue mission was a set up, to lure you all away from the town."

"So I was right. This is a trap after all!" I say. "What are you gonna do?"

"Nothing for now. But once Pete finishes his business over at the festival, I will finish off the rest of the town." Xusvent eyes let out a red glow before he vanishes.

"Pete's here? In the town?" Mickey asks.

"Oh dear, he plans to try and take the Million Dreams Award once again." Minnie says. "We have to hurry."

We all hurry back to the Dream Festival. A few Dream Eaters stands in our way, but we do not allow them to slow us down. Any Dream Eaters that appear we cut down, even under the exhaustion from our previous fight against the endless army of Dream Eaters.

Minnie stays close to either Mickey or I. Sora and Riku are the ones who dive into the horde of Dream Eaters. We attack any of those that come close to us or the queen, or use our magic to attack them at long distances.

We all make it back into town about half the time it took to get to the cliff. Nothing's damaged or destroyed, but our greatest concern is the Dream Festival at the heart of the town.

Once we reach there, that's where the problem is discovered. "All right you little punks! Give me my prize or you'll never see your queen again!"

"No way, pete! Like we'll ever hand the prize over to someone like you!" Donald says.

Pete laughs. "You have no other choice. I have the queen held captive, and the only way she'll ever be set free as if you give me my prize!"

Donald and Goofy are both disappointed. They have no other choice but to do Petes bidding.

The citizens are upset as well, but then, one-by-one, they turn and gasp, in delight. Donald and Goofy looks over Pete and they are surprised as well. Pete is concern in worry about what everyone's doing, then he turns.

Just as he feared, All of us, Sora, Riku, Mickey and myself, have returned. With Queen Minnie by our side. "Wh-What! No! How can this be?!" Pete says.

"I realized what you were planning, Pete." Mickey says.

I summon my Keyblade and point it at Pete. "You're a fool if you think we'll ever give you the Million Dream Award. So surrender now and we may consider letting you go."

Pete doesn't say anything. He just looks at us shocked. Then he stomps his feet and grunting in frustration. "No! No! No! No! No! This is not how it's suppose to be!" Pete growls then he stops having his little tantrum. "I'll finish you all here myself and then I'll take the prize by force!"

We hand Minnie over to Donald and Goofy, then the rest of us ready ourselves for combat. Pete's no challenge, but he's not to be underestimated.

We all leap towards Pete. Many of our attacks were effective against Pete, he hardly gets the change to attack one he is hit. After taking several hits, Pete activates his Force Field. "Sorry kids, Pete's invincible!" The shield only lasts a short time, but it gives him the chance to start up his combat.

We all charge at Pete, only he runs back while dropping firecrackers. Sora and I get caught in the tiny balls of fireworks. Riku and Mickey run to the sides and do an angle strikes on Pete.

Pete blocks Rikus attack then pounds him, but Mickey strikes him as soon as Pete attacks, not even giving him a chance to make his next move. Pete takes out a ball bomb and rolls it towards Riku. It explodes and Riku gets knocked back. Then Sora and I charge into the battle and fight Pete.

"Take him down!" I say.

The three of us come at Pete at once. But he does a block and become enraged. "Get out of my way!" Then he slams his fists to the ground. The blast knocks us all back. The others are down, but I land on my feet and quickly come towards Pete.

I activate my D-link with Chantal and then go all out on Pete with my Dual Keyblades and powerful magic. Pete often activates his force field once he suffers enough damage from my attacks. Whenever he does, I wait for the bubble to end and then continue attacking.

Sora and Riku soon return into the battle and attack Pete, Mickey joins us shortly afterwards.

We all defeated Pete in no time.

Pete falls flat down on the ground. Even with him defeated, we keep our guard up. Pete gets pulls himself up to a sitting position then gets back on his feet. "You will all pay for this!"

Pete turns and makes a run for it. "Should we give the chase?" Riku asks.

"No. Let him go. I doubt he'll cause anymore trouble." I say.

Suddenly, light shines right in front of us. We look up and a keyhole appears right before our very eyes. Sora, Riku and I summon our Keyblades and then we seal the Keyhole. With it locked a bright light shines and the Nightmare leaves this world.

Five down.

Only eight to go.

With the Nightmare gone, the queen safe and the town fixed up, we all were able to continue on with the Dream Festival.

An hour later, we finally move on to the big event. Sora, Riku and I stand in the audience as Queen Minnie takes the stage.

"Hello everyone and thank you for waiting." Minnie stands in center stage. "Now, it's time to begin the main event of our Dream Festival: the Million Dreams Award presentation." With all the votes counted, Minnie is quite surprised. "Oh, how very exciting. This year we have multiple winners. the Million Dreams Award goes to..."

The whole crowd goes silent, they even hold their breath in hopes that they are the winners. Riku and I are however silent. We're curious that we're the winners, but not that deep in hopes or curiosity like the others.

"Sora. Riku. And Patrick. All three of you." The audience cheers for the three of that. Well, that is certainly a surprise. "Would the three winners please come up and join me on the stage?" We all walk up on stage to join Minnie. "I hereby present the Million Dreams Award as a token of how kind you all have been for us and how much you matter to us. Congratulations!"

The whole audience cheers for us. We each return thanks to them.

After we each received a reward, and the prize which is a small trophy in the shape of Mickey's head. Once the festival is over, Mickey gives me a pick of his power to my Wayfinder, allowing me to add Mickey into my D-linking power.

With that done, we continue our journey to the next world to banish the Nightmare.


	15. An Icy Fear

**A/N: It's been months since I last worked on the Living Nightmare. Sometimes I wish time is on my side...then I would have had Final Fantasy XIII-2 My Version and Avatar the Last Airbender book eight finished (Mostly the Final Fantasy)**

 **After saving the Million Dreams Aware, our heroes move on to the next world to find and seal the next keyhole to the Dream World. But be warned. What lays await for Sora and his friends is a cold nightmare.**

World: Arendelle

* * *

"Princess Anna!" There's a knock on the door. Anna is asleep in bed with crazy bed head. It would make trolls look pretty. "Princess Anna wake up! It's time! The gates will open soon!"

Anna yawns as she sits up. "I'm up...I've been up...for hours." She says tiresome. "Time for what?"

"Your sister's coronation." The Royal Guard says.

"Oh yeah...The coronation." Anna says, still tiresome like she doesn't care, but realizes and gets her second wind. "The coronation! The CORONATION!"

The town of Arendelle is lively.

All of the citizens are moving left and right around town. Several boats and carts from out of town enters the city and parks. Arendelle is gonna need a bigger city.

Sora, Riku and I too arrive at the city gates along with the huge crowd. Aqua can barely see what's going on since she's at the height of a child sitting in a wheelchair. "What's going on?"

"It's like some kind of festival going on." Riku says.

"Whatever it is, it's pretty big." I say. I look up into the skies, which are black and red from the nightmare. I shiver. "Do you guys feel cold?"

"Yeah. I do." Sora says. "It's so cold here."

"I feel it too. And yet no one else are affected by it." Aqua says.

Everyone else here is dressed like it's early summer or middle spring. We feel the cold, it's pretty deep. Like the heart of winter itself. If we're the only ones who can feel it, and the cold almost feels like...fear. It could only be one thing.

It must be the Nightmare.

We finally past the gates and arrive in the town. We can barely see much around us. Once I get a look at the huge castle, I recognize the place.

"Wait...I know where we are...This is Arendelle!" I say.

"You've been here before?" Riku asks.

"Yes. During my travels into finding Aqua a few years back." I say. "It's a castle of the two sisters, Anna and Elsa."

I suddenly remembered something about Elsa: Her whole life she's been afraid of her own ice powers, ever since the day when she accidentally shot her sister in the head, barely taking away her life. She recovered well but her hair is left with a white strip. A permanent mark on Elsa's mistake.

The cold in this world feels like fear. Elsa's fear.

Elsa's fear must be attracting the Nightmare.

"So I'm guessing they're princesses." Riku says. "What do you suppose is-"

As we are wondering, we end up bumping into somebody. The young lady falls back into a barrel. Riku staggers back from the impact. He, Sora and Aqua are all startled by the sudden surprise. "Whoa. What was that?"

I look at the person in the barrel. "I think I know." I help the young girl out of the barrel and on her feet.

"Hey! Can't you just watch where you're-" Anna is suddenly silent when she sees a familiar face. "...Patrick? Oh my gosh! It's you!"

"Good to see you too, Anna." I say.

After a simple greet, Anna turns to notice the others. "Oh. Who are your friends?"

"Oh, right. This is Sora, Riku and Aqua." I say.

Sora, Riku and Aqua say their hellos to Anna. "Oh! this is so exciting! You've arrived just in time!"

"Yeah. We've noticed something big is going on." Aqua says. "What's happening."

"It's coronation day! My sister's going to be the queen!" Anna says.

Hearing that has me worried. "Wait...Elsa's going to be the queen...of Arendelle?" I just know that this is going to be bad. For Arendelle and Elsa. "Where is your sister?"

Anna seems concern as she explains. "She's at the castle, in her room. She's locked herself in."

"I think I know what it is." I say. "I'll go talk to her. Why don't show my friends around?"

Without saying another rood, I take off to see Elsa while leaving Sora, Riku and Aqua to Anna. It's probably best to keep a watchful eye on Anna since the Nightmare is here. And the cold can only mean that it is incredibly powerful.

* * *

Elsa watches the town from the windows of her room. She may look brave and strong. But in true, she's afraid. Elsa is born and gifted with ice powers. But she doesn't see it as a gift but a curse.

She still remembers the terrible mistake she had made years ago. When she and Anna were children.

One night, Anna and Elsa were playing in the foyer, which is covered in ice and snow cause of Elsa's powers. They did a lot of things. Stack on ice. Snowballs. Make a snowman and name him Olaf. A winter wonderland for the two sisters.

But then Anna was jumping on piles of snow, made by Elsa. Everywhere Anna jumps, Elsa conjures a snow pile for her to land on. But Anna was moving too fast and Elsa couldn't keep up. When she didn't, Elsa ended up shooting her sister in the head.

Elsa felt so horrible about what she has done that fear overcomes her. She's afraid of her own powers. Of herself. She started distancing herself on Anna afraid of hurting her all over again.

But things grow much worse when Elsa's powers start to grow stronger and stronger and she cannot control it.

But today is Coronation Day. Where instead of hiding in her room, in the shadows, she has to become queen. To be in the eyes of the public.

There's a knock on the door, which startles the soon-to-be queen. "Uh...I'm not...decent."

"Elsa. It's me." I say. "Can you open up? We need to talk." Elsa is surprised to hear me then she answers the door, but only opens it ever so slightly.

"Oh...Patrick. Come in." Elsa opens the door, then quickly shuts it one I step inside. "I-I didn't expect you to be here. What a surprise. What are you doing in Arendelle?"

"I've heard about your Coronation." I say. "I thought I stop by check on you. You feeling all right?" Elsa looks down, holding onto her arm. I take notice of the great concern on her face. "You're scared...aren't you?"

"I'm just too dangerous. My powers are too powerful, I can't control them. I even hurt my own sister." Elsa says.

"Elsa. That was an accident and you know. You never meant to hurt Anna, but that doesn't mean you can let fear rule you. It's like your father and mother said: Your powers can bring beauty, but can also bring danger. Fear will be your enemy. You must face your fears. Trust me." I say.

Elsa is not convinced. "I just don't want to hurt anybody." Saying that, Elsa seems to be deeper into her fear. At that moment, I suddenly feel a chill down my spine. It's the cold I'm feeling in this nightmarish world. It's gotten colder.

"Let me tell you something, Elsa." Elsa looks at me as I begin to tell her a story, but before I get the chance, we were interrupted.

A guard knocks on the door and opens it. "Your majesty. It's time." The guard takes notice of me. "Who is he? You weren't on the VIP list."

"No, it's fine. I was just on my way out." I walk out the door, but stop to look back at Elsa. "Good luck at your coronation, your highness."

While I'm having my talk with Elsa, Anna shows Sora, Riku and Aqua around town. Even through the city is cheerful and lively for the big event, they can't relax with the situation they see and sense going on in this world.

The cold. The Nightmarish skies.

It's a world just waiting to be devoured by the Dream Eaters.

"Everyone sure is excited." Sora says.

"Of course they are. Arendelle is having a new queen after three years. It's like for the first time in forever-" Just when she's talking, Anna gets tackled by something. Anna gets knocked back and falls into a boat with some seaweed on her face. She lifts the seaweed to look at the person that knocked her down. "Hey!"

The man on his horse is surprised to see Anna. "Oh, dear. I am sorry. I didn't see you there."

The young prince hops off his horse to help Anna stand. This becomes a bit of an awkward moment for the two of them. Even Anna accidentally say that he's gorgeous. That certainly makes Riku and Sora feel strange while Aqua giggles.

"I'm Prince Hans, of the Southern Isles." Hans says.

"I'm Princess Anna...of Arendelle." Anna says.

There's a bit of a short talk between Hans and Anna. Feeling uncomfortable about this, but mostly the cold presence, Sora and Riku returns to the castle, and they bring Aqua who complains that she didn't want to miss this loving moment between and prince and princess.

So the Keyblade wielders arrive at the castle. Only once they did, they suddenly feel even colder. They shivered even. The gates open and I walk right out of the castle, approaching to my friends.

"What did you find out?" Aqua asks.

I let out a sigh before answering. "It's just as a thought. It's Elsa's fear that is causing the nightmare in this world. That's why there's a cold presence in here. Elsa's afraid of herself and her powers. Fear causes the Nightmare. And the Nightmare is cold."

"So what do we do?" Sora asks.

"I'd suggest we find a way to cleanse the nightmare before it gets worse. Before Elsa succumbs deep into the dark fear." I say.

* * *

Before the Coronation, we search all over the castle for the Keyhole. But its no where to be found. You should think the keyhole would be here since Elsa's the source of the nightmare.

It's time for the queens Coronation. We all gather in the church halls. I stand next to Anna on the side while Sora and Riku and Aqua are sitting with the rest of the crowd. The bishop holds out an orb and a scepter for Elsa to wield. She's about to grab them until the bishop clears his throat.

"Your majesty. The gloves." The Bishop says.

Elsa's afraid. She can't take off her gloves. They help her contain her powers. If she holds the items, they'll be encased in ice, revealing her secret powers to the people of Arendelle.

Elsa looks towards me with a worried expression. I just give her a single nod and mouth 'Go on'. Elsa looks down at her hands and, ever so slowly, removes them. Her hands are shaking as she reaches and grabs the artifacts. She turns facing the audience, holding them with pride and respect.

The Bishop chants in a Latin Language declaring Elsa to become queen. Elsa's doing great so far, but she doesn't think so. She's afraid, and in her fear she can see the items in her hands starting to turn to frost.

"Queen Elsa and Arendelle!" Upon that, Elsa quickly puts the items back and puts her gloves back on.

She manages to make through the Coronation. Now it's time for the party. Elsa stands in front of her throne as the duke introduces her, and then he introduces Princess Anna. Anna makes her appearance, but doesn't stand too close to Elsa knowing how she's keeping her distance to her own sister.

Sora, Riku and I are acting casual by the food bar while looking at the royal sisters.

They seem still at first, but then they seem a bit cheerful as they talk. "They seem to be getting along well." Riku says.

"Yeah. But knowing Elsa, I doubt it'll last long." I say. "We still need to find that Keyhole."

"But where could it be? We've searched everywhere in the castle." Sora says.

"It could be somewhere else." Riku says.

Riku might have a point. Arendelle isn't the only place in this whole world. There's still the fields. The mountains. The Southern Isles where Hans came from.

"All right. After the party, we split up. Two of us search for the Keyhole, while one of us stays with Aqua to watch Elsa." I say.

Sora and Riku agrees.

Elsa and Anna have their sister moments together for a while, then Anna leaves saying that she has someone that she wants Elsa to meet. Once I see Elsa is all alone, I approach the queen.

"How's it going, your majesty?" I ask.

"It's...going great...so far." Elsa looks down at her hands. "I'm still afraid of losing control of my powers."

"Elsa. You must remember to stay calm. Getting scared will only make it worse." I say. I'd also add the Nightmare is going to feed off more of her fear, but it's not something I should really tell her. Not just because it's meddling but it'll only make her even more scared. "You're going to be fine."

"Elsa!" Elsa and I turn to Anna, who returns with Hans at her side. I'm confused seeing the guy, but also suspicious. "This is Prince Hans of the Southern Isles."

Hans gives a respectful bow. "Your majesty."

"So. We would like for your blessing." Anna says.

Now I'm worried. Asking for her own sister's blessing could lead to something bad. "Blessing...for what?" Elsa asks.

"For our marriage." Anna says.

That sends a shock to Elsa. Anna and Hans goes on talking about the plans for the wedding. The more they talk, the more worried Elsa becomes. "Whoa. Whoa, whoa. Stop. No one is getting married."

Anna is disappointed to hear that. "But...why?"

"You can't marry someone you just met." Elsa says.

"You can if it's true love!" Anna says.

"And what do you know about true love?" Elsa asks.

"More then you. All you know is how to shut people out." Anna says.

I feel a bit uncomfortable being in the middle of this conversation. "Can I say something?"

Anna and Elisa both look at me. "Stay out of this." They say in unison.

I don't say anything after the way they yelled at me like that. "Okay, you know what. I think you should leave." Elsa tells Hans. "In fact, everyone should leave. Party's over. Close the gates." Elsa makes her leave.

Anna couldn't accept this. "No! Elsa wait!" Anna grabs Elsa's hand, but only pulls off her glove.

"Enough Anna!" Elsa says.

I notice how upset Elsa is getting. "Elsa. Calm down!"

"Why did you shut me out! Why do you shut the world out! What are you afraid of?!" Anna asks.

Elsa has had enough of the questions. "I said ENOUGH!"

On that turn and hand wave, she unleashes a wave of her ice magic, creating a circle of icicles. The crowd gasps and yell in shock and horror. Even Anna is shocked.

Elsa is in great fear. She just realized her powers in front of everyone, and they are afraid of it.


	16. Eternal Winter

**A/N: I have a lot of work and real life going on. How I wish time would work differently. I bet Elsa wishes for the same with being queen and all. The secret is out. Now everyone knows that she has ice powers, and it's driving fear and panic all over Arendelle. *Shivers* ...Did it suddenly just got colder?**

World: Arendelle

* * *

The room is silent of words and the air filled with gasps and muttering. Queen Elsa is just as horrified as everyone else in this room. Well not everyone. I'm not surprised cause I knew about Elsa's powers. As for Sora, Riku and Aqua, this is the first time they've ever seen this.

And Anna is just as shocked as everybody else.

"Elsa?" Anna asks in shock.

The ice queen doesn't answer, still horrified of what she just unleashed. All eyes are on her. In general, eyes of shock. but to Elsa, they're eyes of fear. And it's drowning her in her own fear.

Queen Elsa makes a run for it. "Elsa! Wait!" Anna chases after her.

"This...is not good." I say. "Come on."

Sora, Riku and I follow after them, with Sora pushing Aqua's wheelchair.

Elsa bursts right out of the castle doors. She stops on her tracks once she sees the large crown of Arendelle's citizens. They all gather around the queen, cheer and greeting her. The last thing Elsa needs is people getting close. She's already losing control of her powers.

Elsa tries to make her way through the crowd. Eventually, she become cornered at the water fountain. Once she placed her hand on the fountain, it completely frozed. The citizens take notice of what happened to the fountain from her touch.

Everybody backs away from Elsa.

Anne and the rest of us reach the castle doors. We get a clear visual of Elsa. "Elsa!"

Elsa gasps once she sees her sister. "Anna! Just...Stay away from me!" Accidentally, Elsa shoots a blast of her ice magic. It hits the steps of the castle, encasing them in ice.

Now the citizens are horrified of Elsa's powers. They start calling her a monster. Elsa just runs for it, with Anne chasing after her, and Hans and the rest of us going after Anne.

Elsa runs until she hits a dead end on the shores. She can do nothing but slowly back away as all of us come closer and closer to her. Once her feet comes close to the water, Elsa takes notice that it starts freezing up. She steps on the ice in the water. Completely solid.

Elsa gets one last look at her sister, then she starts running on water, which is turning into ice with each step she makes on it.

"Elsa!" Anna shouts as she tries to go after her, but then she slips on ice and falls.

Hans hurries to Anna's side to help her sit up. Anna couldn't help but watch her sister disappear in the distance.

Sora looks around and is shocked. "Look!"

We are all surprised at what's happening. The ice is still spreading. First all over the ocean, and now on land. The temperatures are dropping, and then it starts snowing.

The Nightmare has only just begun.

We don't know what to do at the moment, so we decided to head back into town. The situation has caused the town to panic. It's summer but now it's coming winter.

"This is not good." I say.

Aqua is rubbing her arms. "Did it suddenly got colder?"

"It could be because it's snowing." Hans says.

I look up at the sky, staring at the nightmarish skies. Riku does the same. He can sense it too. "No. This is different. This feeling isn't the cold...It's fear."

The presence of fear in the world of Arendelle is bone chilling. That can only mean that Elsa's fears is the true source of the Nightmare in this world. If she doesn't overcome them, it's only a matter of time before the Nightmare devours this entire world.

"We have to go after Elsa." I say.

"Where do we start?" Aqua asks.

"It looked like she's heading into the forest. We'll start there for some clues." Sora says.

"All right. We'll start there." Riku says.

"I'm going too." Anna says.

We are turn to the princess. "No, it's too dangerous. Besides, you need to be here in case something happens to Elsa." I say.

Anna faces me. "This was all my fault. I pushed her too far and it caused her to lose control. I have to go find Elsa and set things right." I was about to say something, but Anna kept talking, as if she knows what I was gonna say. "I'm going to find her. With or without you guys."

We are silent. Anna's showing some courage, wanting to go out in the cold nightmare. "I guess we don't have much of a choice." Riku says.

I let out a sigh. "Very well. But stay close to us."

Anna smiles. Then she turns her attention to Hans. "Hans, you need to see here and look after Arendelle while I'm gone."

Hans stand straighten and gives his special salute. "I will do my best, princess. Be careful out there." He grabs her hand and kisses it. I could has sworn I almost saw Anna blush. But I was too busy paying my attention to Hans. Suspiciously.

Sora, Riku and Anna start taking off. I'm about to get ready myself. "Don't forget about me." Aqua says.

"I'm afraid you can't come." I say. "It's going to be dangerous out there, and with all that ice and snow, you are not gonna get around smoothly."

Aqua's about to protest, but nothing comes out. "I...guess you're right."

"Indeed. And besides..." I look around us to make sure he isn't around. Once it's clear, I lean in and whisper to Aqua. "I need you to keep an eye on Hans. I don't trust him."

"Why? He seems like a nice guy." Aqua says, smiling.

"Looks can be deceiving." I point out, and Aqua agrees. "Let me know the second you find out something."

Aqua nods. And on that note, I make my way into the forest. Moving deeper into the cold.

* * *

Anna may not be able to feel it, but the fear is even colder out here then it is in the city. But the cold, both winter and fear, is the least of our problems. There aren't any Dream Eaters around here. It's all calm and quiet. Too easy. Too suspicious.

Sora, Riku and I make our way through the snow, in aa Triangular form with Anna in the middle. each of us have our Keyblades at hand, especially two of them from me. there's no telling when a Dream Eater or any of the Onyx Nightmare are gonna pop out.

"Isn't this a bit...much?" Anna asks, a bit uncomfortable and concern about our overprotective behavior.

"We're just keeping our guards up, princess." I say.

"From what?" Anna asks. We didn't answer. Shortly afterwards, a howling wind blows, and Anna is left shivering. "S-so cold."

We all noticed Anna's shivering. "First things first, we need to get you into some more suitable clothes." I point out.

We all look around. We're pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and we do not have time to hurry back into Arendelle. "Look over here." Riku points us to some single store. Might not be much, but it might do for now.

We approach the shop. Once we're on the doorstep, the door bursts open. The shopkeeper carries a man in full winter clothing and kicks him right out. The man screams landing face first in the snow. Sounds like something rough happened inside.

The man sits up, and some reindeer is sniffing all over him. "No Sven, I didn't get your carrots." The reindeer went from excitement to disappointed.

"Sounds like he had it rough." I turn to Anna. "Better go in with you."

Anna and I walked right into the shop. While we've doing our business, Sora and Riku helps out the man. "Is everything okay?" Sora asks.

"No. It's not." The man stands, wiping snow off his clothes. "I was trying to get carrots and ice hiking gear, but the man was going over priced. 4000 Mummies and I only had 1000."

The man looks at Sven. "It sounds like he's trying to take advantage of us." 'Sven' says. It's really the man talking in some silly goofy voice. That just has Sora and Riku feeling weird.

"Oh, Sven. Sometimes you get me." He says, wrapping an arm around the Reindeer."

"Oh...kay?" Riku says, feeling awkward. "What are you doing all the way out here, blondie?"

"The name is Kristoff." Kristoff says. "And I was mining ice to sell in the town. But then this blizzard appeared suddenly out of nowhere." Sora and RIku are both startled hearing the blizzard part. "It's weird! First it started in the Northern Mountains, and now it's spreading."

"Wait! You mean it came out of nowhere? Was it like magic?" Riku asks.

"Yeah! It was like magic." Kristoff says.

Sora and Riku exchange looks, and that's when Anna and I returned form the store, Anna is new winter clothing. "Good new. We've got a lead." Sora says.

After a brief explanation, we storm off in the remorseless winter heading for the Northern Mountains. Sora and Anna rides with Kristoff on his sled, which is being pulled by Sven. I'm riding on my Hoverbike with Riku in the passengers seat.

Anna explains everything to Kristoff about what's happened, that she suddenly discovers her sister has ice powers and she lost control over them cause Anna pushed her about how she wanted to marry a prince she just met.

Anna tries to explain more but Kristoff cuts her off at the one thing that's disturbed him. "Wait! You were engaged with a guy you just met on that day!? Didn't your parents warn you about strangers?"

Anna is silent, then she scotches away from Kristoff of bit. "Yeah...they did." I think we can all agree that's a strange moment. "But it doesn't matter. It's true love."

"And what do you know about true love?" Kristoff asks.

Now the two of them go on arguing about true love. I don't know about Sora and Riku, but there two are driving me crazy. Just wish we can shut them up about true love so we can focus on finding Elsa and putting an end to the Night in this world.

I'm on alert. "Wait! Quiet!" Sven stops, as well as I stop my Hoverbike. I sense something. And heard it too. I hope off for a moment, my Keyblade at hand. I turn to the darkness right behind us. It's nothing but pitch black, but I can still sense it.

I get a closer look into the darkness. It's very faint. But I see them. Wolves of black and dark blue color with red eyes. On their foreheads are the marks.

Moonfangs. Dream Eaters.

"Sven! Go! Go!" Kristoff shouts in fear.

Sven storms off, just as the Dream Eaters pounces onto them. I use some of my magic to blow them off, but the spell only last a second and only storms off the front wave. I take that time to hope back on my Hovebike and drive off with the others.

"What are those things!?" Anna asks.

"They're Dream Eaters." I say. "And they are very dangerous!"

We hurry through the woods with Dream Eaters chasing our tails. Riku and I deal with the creatures, by me driving close to them and we strike them down with our Keyblades. Few Dream Eaters manages to get through us. They attack the sled and that's when Sora strikes them down.

"They're too fast. I can't shake them!" Kristoff says.

My Keyblade strikes down a group of three Dream Eaters. "There are too many of them!" Once I repel the nightmarish monsters, I look ahead. Kristoff and the others are heading towards a cliff. I was about to warn them, then I suddenly get an idea. "Kristoff! Jump over the cliff!"

Kristoff thinks the idea is dangerously stupid. Then again, they're being chased by wave after wave of Dream Eaters. What's risking jumping over a cliff with the chance of plummeting to your death?

Kristoff grabs Anna and tosses her onto Sven. "JUMP SVEN!" Then Kristoff cuts the rope connecting Sven to the sled.

Sven runs with all his speed and makes a large leap. The sled also flies over the cliff. Sora and Kristoff jumps right off for more distance before the fall. I pull my Hoverbike back, like I'm trying to do a wheelie, then cause the engine to unleash a sudden burst of acceleration.

The Hoverbike flies further then the sled, and slightly more then Sven. And we land on the other side with no problem.

The only thing that didn't make it is the sled.

But it's still the win. On the other side, the Dream Eaters stopped on their dead end. Only a few on the front lines runs over the cliff and falls to their doom.

"Well that was close." Riku says. And I agree.

"Wow. That looked very close." We are all startled by the new voice. But given to what Kristoff does with Sven, we all stare at him. Believing it's another one of his goofy voices.

Kristoff notices the strange looks at him. "I didn't say anything."

"Of course you didn't." While we're not even looking, a snowman waddles over to us. "It was me." We all look down to see the snowman. Anna screams, startled by it. Kristoff is startled as well. The rest of us are just disturbed.

"Talking Snowman...well, that's a new one." I say.

"How is this possible?" Kristoff asks.

The snowman isn't bothered by our disturbance of him. He's pretty clueless. "Hi. I'm Olaf. And I like warm hugs."

We say nothing. But Anna, for one, has shown interest in the Snowman. "Wait...Olaf?" She looks closely at Olaf, gets down on her knees down to his level even. Then she smiles. "That's right...Olaf!" That's right. I remember Anna and Elsa use to say something about how they use to make a snowman and named it Olaf. "Did my sister made you? Do you know where she is?"

"Oh of course she did...and no, I do not." Olaf says. "Well, why would you want to see her?"

"We are trying to bring back summer, so we need to go talk to Elsa." Sora says.

"Oh. I have no idea but I always loved the idea of summer, and the sun, and all things hot." Olaf says.

Hearing that really disturbs us. A snowman that loves hot stuff? "You...don't have much experience with heat, do you?" Riku asks.

"Nope!" Olaf closes his eyes. "But I sometimes like to imagine what it's like if summer does come."

* * *

While Olaf is singing his heart off about summer, Prince Hans is doing his best to help and support the town of Arendelle fight off the bitter cold of Elsa's winter. The citizens struggle fighting the cold. The prince even offered the town into the castle for warmth and shelter.

Aqua keeps an eye out on Prince Hans, as I instructed her. Through she's hardly seeing any threat from him. But she still trust my instincts.

Aqua can't help but notice it's getting late. She looks directly to the town gates where we took off. "Shouldn't they be back by now?" Aqua wonders.

She just sits in place watching the outside world of endless snow and ice. "Is something troubling you?" Aqua jumps when Hans approaches her from behind.

"Oh. I'm fine...I'm just worried about the princess and my friends." Aqua says.

Hans turns his attention to the distance. "I know...It's too dangerous out there for the princess to be in." Aqua doesn't say anything. Hans put on a serious face and walks off. Aqua takes notice of his marching while he grabs a sword and gets on his horse.

"Uh...what are you doing?" Aqua asks, worried.

"I'm going to find Anna, and put an end to this winter." Hans says.

Aqua thinks fast. She cannot let the prince out of her sight and there's no way she can wheel herself through the frozen tundra. "Uh...I don't think that's a good idea." Aqua says.

But sadly, the prince doesn't listen. He just rides off into the bitter cold.

Other then Anna, we all endured Olaf's silly little sing-along fantasy being having fun in the sun of summer. Are we the only ones who are curious to wonder if that snowman even knows what happens to his kind in summer.

Somebody's gotta tell him.

That being said, we continue onward through the mountains. It's getting colder the higher we go up. Not just for Anna and Kristoff. But for the rest of us excluding Olaf, we feel the cold presence of fear. It's growing ever so stronger.

Which means that Elsa is close.

and as we get closer to the Nightmare's source, Dream Eaters appear trying to hold us off. The Dream Eaters are tough. Anna and Kristoff stays behind lines of the battlefield.

After several wonderings and battles, we have reached to the top of the Northern Mountain. There, we found a very large castle made entirely out of ice. We are all surprised.

"Wow..." Anna says.

"You sister...made this?" Riku asks.

"I think I might cry." Kristoff says.

"Go ahead. I won't judge." Is all Anna says as she moves forward, talking up the stairs.

The rest of us follows her. We head up the stairs until we reach the gates of this castle. Ana stands ahead of all of us. We figured she had to be the one to see Elsa. She stands in front of the door...doing nothing. She's not knocking. She's hesitating.

Finally, she knocked the door, and it opens ever so slightly. "It's open." Sora says.

"Okay...Oh!" Anna turns over to Kristoff. "You should probably wait out here."

Kristoff is disappointed to hear that. "What? Oh come on! It's a palace made of ice! It's practically my dream!"

"The last time I introduced my sister to a guy, she pretty much froze everything." Anna says.

She's not wrong. "I'll have to agree with Anna. You wait out here, Kristoff." I stand to Anna's side. "I've known Elsa for a long time, so I'll go in. You two wait out here with Kristoff."

Sora and Riku have no complaints about it. Especially since they'll have to stand guard for any Dream Eaters that might suddenly appear.

With all that done, Anna and I entered the castle. The inside is as cold and beautiful as it is on the outside. Anna shouts for her sister, Elsa. Nothing happens. Not even Elsa appears to her sister's calling. Just when I thought Elsa's not gonna show for her sister, that's when we noticed she's coming down the stairs.

"Anna?" Elsa asks.

Elsa seems pretty different. "Elsa? You look so beautiful." Anna says.

"Well. Thank you. Anna. What are you doing all the way out here?" Elsa asks.

"I came here...to take you home." Anna says.

"But...I don't want to go...This is my home now. I am alone...and free." Elsa says. "You should go back. Arendelle needs you as their princess."

"I'm afraid that's not really much of an opinion. You're gonna have to come with us." I say.

"But...how come?" Elsa says.

Anna feels a bit awkwardly nervous as they explains the situation. "Arendelle is in deep...deep...snow." Elsa is shocked to hear that. "You kind of set off an eternal winter everywhere." Anna tells her. "But don't worry. You can fix this."

"I...I can't. I really don't know how." Elsa says.

Elsa turns her back on Anna, slowly walking away. As she does, I noticed a dark aura around her. It's not the darkness. The aura is dark red and cold. Bone Chilling even.

It's fear. "The Nightmare." I whispered.

Anna tries to appreciate her sister, encouraging her that Elsa has the power to stop this winter. But Elsa just digs deeper and deeper into despair. As her fear and despair grows, a blizzard starts to form inside. The chilling winds surrounding the two girls.

This isn't good. Elsa's losing control of her powers again.

Finally. Elsa snaps. "I...I CAN'T!" And she unleashes a blasting storm of ice. But the worst part is, a part of that unleashed power, hits Anna.

Right in the heart.


	17. The Frozen Nightmare

**A/N: Things have just got chiller. And more fearsome for the world of Arendelle. Personally, I haven't gotten THIS far in Frozen under a number of...personal reasons. But i was able to see the rest for this story. Better hope it's worth it...**

World: Arendelle

* * *

Else stands in fear, back turned from Anna, fully unaware of the blow she just gave her. Anna groan as she collapses to her knees, a hand at her chest. I stand by her side to assist her.

"Anna, you okay?" I ask.

"I'm fine." Anna says.

I turn my attention to Elsa. "Elsa. This has got to stop..."

Elsa steps back. "Stay away from me...Just take care of Anna and leave."

"Listen to me, Elsa-" I'm shortly interrupted.

"I said stay away!" Elsa lets out a blast of her ice powers into the ground. And the magic creates a giant golem of ice and snow.

Marshmallow grabs Anna and I and takes us out of the castle. Kristoff and the others were all startled by the giant snow monster breaking out of the castle. Anna starts beating on Marshmallow.

"Let go of me!" She shouts.

Marshmallow drops the two of us into the snow. "Don't come back!" He shouts.

That was frustrating. We only came here to help Elsa deal with her fear, but only end up making things worse.

Kristoff helps Anna out of the snow and to stand up. Sora and Riku both came to my side as I stand up as well. "Didn't go well?" Riku asks.

"Not at all as I imagine." I ask.

"Well, what are we gonna do now?" Kristoff says.

"I'm just gonna go back inside and talk to my sister-" Anna makes her way back to the castle door.

"We don't have time for this." Anna stops her tracks when Riku calls out. "We need to purge the Nightmare from Arendelle. Maybe then, this eternal winter will come to an end."

We all end up in an argument conversation of what to do. Anna wanting to talk to her sister. Riku and Sora saying we must find the Nightmare Keyhole. Kristoff to put an end to the winter. The whole time, I remain silent. Thinking and wondering. Elsa's Fear is feeding the Nightmare in this world. The more she fears of hurting others, especially Anna, the more the Nightmare Spreads.

"Anna. Your hair." Kristoff's concern has us all startled a bit.

"What about it?" Anna asks.

"It's turning white." Kristoff says.

Anna didn't understand what he meant. Anna does have a white stride of hair. But suddenly, a huge amount strides of her hair suddenly turns white. This surprises us all, and we can tell that this is bad.

"This must have been when she hit you." I say.

Sora and Riku are surprised. "Hit her? What do you mean?" Sora asks.

"I'll explain later, right now we need to find Anna some help." I say.

"I know. My friends can help her." Kristoff says.

"What? You mean the love experts?" Anna says.

Sora and Riku both are confused at this. Love Experts. i'm mostly confused as to how they could even be able to help Anna. "Come on. They'll help you." Kristoff takes Anna. We don't bother to question, we just follow Kristoff.

"And how do you know they can?" Anna asks.

"Because I've seen them do it before." Kristoff says.

We just follow Kristoff to his friends, 'The Love Experts'. I just hope this won't be a waste of time, whatever's happening to Anna it's going to be taking her life. Wasting time becomes the least of our worries. The blizzard is growing more and more fierce. Even the evil presence of the Nightmare is thick and dense, just like the blizzard.

Dream Eaters appear in a rapid rate. Even at our best effects, it's hard to fight through them.

I begin to notice. The more Elsa fears, the stronger this eternal winter becomes. The greater the blizzard, the stronger the nightmare becomes.

That's when I realize where the Keyhole might be.

We arrive in a rocky area, known as the Valley of the Rolling Rock. Surprisingly the one place that isn't covered in 30 feet of snow.

"Well. Here we are. Meet my family." Kristoff stands in front of us to show us all...a large collection of rocks.

This became very disturbing news for us. We figured Kristoff is crazy being an ice man, little did we know he's actually crazy. Kristoff goes around, greeting each rock. While the rest of us are still standing frozen of shock.

Some help this is going to be for Anna. Waste of time.

"He's crazy." Olaf whispers to us, not even taking his eyes off the awkward situation. Funny coming from a living snowman who loves warm and fire. Someone's gotta tell him what'll happen.

"Okay...Well, since we've tried." I grab Anna by the shoulders and start pulling her away. She doesn't fight or mind, still feeling awkward at Kristoff's 'Friends'. "I think we should getting going."

Suddenly, Anna and I were startled when, from behind us, the rocks started rolling. They started heading towards Kristoff. All the other rocks are joining in, gathering together. Then they all take form of stone trolls.

"What the?" I say, in surprise.

"Kristoff's home!" One of the Trolls says.

All the trolls cheers for Kristoff's return. The rest of us are just standing here confused. We couldn't believe at what just happened. Bunch of rolling rocks turned out to be trolls.

"Okay, this is officially the second weirdest thing I've seen." I say. Sora and Riku were about to speak, but I cut them short. "Don't ask."

"I'm happy to see you all here, but we have a bit of an emergency." Kristoff says. "Where's Grandpabbie?"

Suddenly, Anna felt really weak. She shudders and collapses. I catch her in my arms. Sora and Riku both take concern of her. "Anna. She's ice cold." I say, as most of her hair turn white.

All the other trolls take notice of the situation. They open a way as one troll rolls in. I help Anna take her next to Kristoff as the troll stops and stands. The troll seems really old, but wise nonetheless.

"What's the problem here?" Grandpabbie asks. He notices Anna's icy conditions. "Come here." Grandpabbie holds her hands. "Anna. Your life is in danger. There is ice in your heart."

"Can't you help you? You've done it before." Kristoff says.

"If it was the head, it would be easy. But only an act of true love can thew a frozen heart." Grandpabbie explains.

Only true love can thew a frozen heart. That's certainly true for the Beast and Belle.

"Then we don't have time to waste. We must return to Arendelle and take her to Prince Hans." Kristoff says. I silently don't agree. Anna and Hans may seemingly be in love with each other, but I can still feel something off about that charming prince.

We get Anna on Sven. Riku rides the reindeer with Kristoff while Sora rides with me on my Hoverbike.

"After we save Anna, we must help Elsa!" I say.

"I agree, but we need to find the Keyhole first! The Nightmare is getting worse!" Sora says.

"We'll find the keyhole while helping Elsa!" I say.

"I'm not following!" Sora says.

I turn my head back to look at him. "Don't you get it? The more Elsa fears, the worst the blizzard gets! The greater the blizzard, the stronger the nightmare becomes!" There's silence. Sora's not confused, but just waiting for the answer. And I gave it to him. "Her fear IS the Nightmare!"

* * *

Hans and his royal guard arrives at the ice castle. They are here to apprehend Queen Elsa. But they are illy prepared when the first being they stumble upon the castle stairs is the ice golem, Marshmallow.

The soldiers fight their way for the ice monster, but can never break through it.

In their struggles, Hans looks past the giant and at the castle doors. Elsa is there only hiding behind the slightly opened doors to see the siege happening at her castle, then shuts herself inside to hide. But Hans goes after her, and two other royal soldiers follows him into the castle.

Elsa runs as far and high as she can from within her castle.

Hans breaks into the castle and chases after her. The chase lasts up to the highest point of the castle room.

"Elsa! Stop this! Don't be the monster people fear you!" Hans tells her.

Elsa doesn't listen. Her fear still overwhelms her. One of the soldiers have his crossbow aimed for Elsa, silently. But Hans was able to notice it, and redirects the aim the moment the soldier fires.

The arrow pierces at the ice chandelier in the ceiling. The ice chains snap and the chandelier falls. Elsa sees death falling down on her from above and runs.

The chandelier crashes an Elsa falls unconscious, being too close of the impact.

Meanwhile, the rest of us hurry our way to Arendelle. Sora and Kristoff do their best to contain Anna, have her warm. The cold still overwhelms her. She grows weaker and weaker.

Tons of Dream Eaters send in our way. They're numbers grow more rapid. We couldn't destroy them all in this emergency and speed. Riku and I only focus, killing the weak ones and using our containment magic, such as Magnet, Zero Gravity or blowing away with Aero magics, to clear a path for Sven.

As we fight our way back to the castle, Hens and his men have no problem with removing Elsa from her castle to Arendelle's Dungeons.

Elsa awakens from unconsciousness. Bound and chained in the dungeon. Even contained, she still looks outside of the dungeon's window.

Arendelle. Completely frozen solid. Nothing but a frozen tundra. Far worse then the North Pole. And she feels nothing but fear and guilty for it. And with her, the aura of nightmarish darkness grows from within her soul.

In her solitude hour, Hans opens the dungeon gates. Elsa looks to him, pleading. "You have to tell them to let me go."

"Elsa, this will all be over if you put an end to this winter." Hans says.

"I can't...Don't you see? I don't know how." Elsa says, sobbing. "You have to tell them to let me go."

"I will do what I can." Hans says, leaving the dungeon.

Elsa is once again left alone in the darkness. Drowning in the fears of her nightmare.

During her solitude, My friends and I have arrived the city of Arendelle, and we rush our way through the town and storm directly to the castle. The castle is completely frozen like the rest of the castle. We had to blast our way through the frozen doors with our fire magic.

Han's and the royal servants await by the fire place in the main room. We take Anna to there, as told that Hens will be there.

"Anna!" Hans says with worry. He notices how weak she is. "What happened?"

"Elsa stroke her." Riku explains.

Riku and Kristoff help Anna to the couch and have her lay on it. "Hans. You have to kiss me." Anna says. That surprises, yet also confuses, him. "She froze my heart, and only true love can save it. Hans, you have to kiss me."

The rest of us leave the room. Though I still don't trust and believe him, Anna is in good hands. With the two of them alone in the room, Hans holds Anna close. Their lips pucker, faces leaning in closer and closer.

And then...

"Oh Anna...If only there is someone who loved you." He says, cruelty in his tone.

Anna's confused. "What?" His true colors are revealed.

Hans stands, walking away from Anna. "As thirteenth in line for the throne, I had no chance. I had to marry into the throne, but no one was getting anywhere near Elsa. But then you were so foolishly desperate for love, you'd actually want to marry me. After out marriage, I was gonna stage an accident for the queen. But then all of this happened...now, all I have to is kill Elsa and bring back summer."

Anna struggles to get up. "You will never...get away with this!" She's on her feet for a moment, but then collapses.

"Oh, but I already have." Hans says, as he leaves the room, and locks the door behind him.

Kristoff is long gone and the rest of us attend to the castle servants, wondering what we should do about this endless winter. Everyone thinks Elsa must be killed. What surprises us to hear is that they have Elsa locked up in the dungeon.

With in our haste, we rush to the castle's dungeons to go and find Elsa.

When we reached the dungeon, to our surprise, it's empty; but covered in ice.

I look at the shackles that one contained her. Frozen and broken in half. "Yeah, she's been here." I say.

"Should we go after her?" Sora asks.

"She couldn't have gone far in the storm." I say. "Let's check on Anna then we'll deal with Elsa."

* * *

Elsa makes a run for it in the frozen wastelands that was once her home. She has to get away from her city. From her sister. What little does she know is that Anna, and all of Arendelle, will be in grave danger from Han's wrath.

Sora, Riku, Aqua and I arrive at the room Anna was taken in. Only to be surprised to find the doors closed and locked. "Locked? ...What is going on?" I say, suspiciously.

No one else bothers to ask further questions. I use my Keyblade to unlock the door, and then open it. Further our suspicions, we find the room completely dark...and cold. There are soft sounds. We find the source, only to have it be the last thing we'd want to see.

"Anna!" She's crawling on the floor, weak and her hair completely white. She's even far colder then before.

"Quickly, get her to the fireplace." Aqua says. Sora and Riku help Anna to the fireplace while I light it up. "Anna, what happened? Where is Hans?"

"It was all a lie." Anna says.

She didn't have much time, but she still explains everything to us about what has happened. What Hans said. What did to Anna, by leaving her here to die of cold. And what he plans to do.

"Kill Elsa?" Sora asks.

"I knew it...I knew that monster couldn't be trusted." I say. I knuckles shake in boiling rage.

"What Anna?" Aqua asks. "If Hans can't cure her, then who will?"

"What about Kristoff?" Olaf asks. "I think there's true love between him and Anna. Like the way he leaves her in Hans's care. He tries to help her save Elsa."

There's silence for a moment, then Anna speaks. "Kristoff...loves me?"

"We don't have much time, it's the only choice we have." I turn to Sora and Riku. "Sora, you and Aqua stay here with Anna. Riku, find Kristoff and bring him back here immediately."

Without sparing a second after my order, I make my leave from the room. "H-hey. Where you going, Patrick?" Sora asks.

My face grows bitter and my tone turns hostile. "I'm gonna have a little chat..." I crack my knuckles. "One prince to another."

In other words: I'm gonna bring the pain to that jerk Hans.

Riku and I go our separate ways out of the castle. Riku leaves town to find Kristoff. I search in the foggy, hurricane storm of cold darkness, for my target. Only Dream Eaters send in my way, but their numbers have grown more to hundreds.

The Nightmare in this world have turned god-like. Elsa's fears of what she has done to her beloved hometown only feeds the darkness inside her soul.

I don't have time to fight off the Dream Eaters. I only contain them with my crowd control magics.

Riku rushes out of the town. He eventually finds Kristoff, not too far outside of Arendelle. "Kristoff!" Kristoff and Sven both stop by Riku's call. "You have to come back to Arendelle. Anna's in trouble, and she needs you!"

"What about Hans?" He asks.

"It's a long story! He can't help her! Now come on!" Both Riku and Kristoff hurries back into Arendelle.

Meanwhile, Elsa still tries to escape the town, disappeared in the endless raging blizzard. And that's when Hans comes within sighting right behind the ice queen.

Things grow much worse for Anna and her friends. The castle turns frozen on the inside. Large, sharp icicles take form and make their way towards them.

"Come on! This way!" Sora says.

Sora helps Anna move. Aqua pushes the wheels of her wheelchair to move.

With no other choice, they have to go outside. "Come! Riku should be on his way back with Kristoff." Aqua says. "We can meet them halfway."

Not much time is left. Soon, Anna's skin turns into ice, and she is losing more life and energy in this blizzard.

"Elsa! Don't run away!" Hans shouts.

Hearing his voice, I'm startled. He is close. I can also feel the presence of the Nightmare growing stronger with each step I make. That means Elsa is nearby.

"Just...please. Take care of my sister!" Elsa asks him.

"Your sister?" Hans asks. "Elsa. Your sister turns from the mountains. Her skin frozen. Her hair white...Elsa, your sister's dead."

Elsa's in horrified shock. Anna, her sister whom she loves and dear for so much, is dead. "LIAR!" Elsa and Hans are both startled by the shout. And when they look, they are surprised by the incoming ball of fire that hits Han's head on. I approach from the darkness towards Elsa. "Elsa! He's lying! Anna is still alive!"

Elsa hears it, but doesn't help her conditions. "You!" Hans quickly recovers from the attack. He draws out his sword and attacks me. I block his attack and we're both on a hold. "Elsa! Anna is dead! I saw it! She died in my arms!"

I glare at Hans. "She didn't die! You left her to die in the cold! YOU TRIED TO KILL HER!" I rebel his sword then punch him hard in the face.

Hans didn't take it too seriously. Once he recovers, he and I become locked in combat. Elsa is just left alone caught in between the two of us. She doesn't know who to believe.

"Don't listen to him, Elsa! He's trying to kill you! He wants to rule Arendelle!" I say.

"Elsa's destroying Arendelle! I'm only trying to save it!" Hans says.

"Elsa! Please!" I bag of her.

Tears fill Elsa's eyes. She slowly descends into sobbing. "I...I don't know what to do...I only bring so much pain...and suffering for everyone...for my sister."

"Then listen to me! Remember this morning, before the coronation, I wanted to tell you something?" I ask.

In my distraction, Hans kicks me with off of him. I get knocked back and hit a frozen mount. Hans grabs Elsa's hand and forces her to shoot ice magic at me. The ice powers seal me inside like a prison cave.

Now Hans positions himself to strike. Elsa just sitting there, ready to accept her punishment. "I was going to say I know exactly how you feel!" I shout at her. "I've made some horrible mistakes in my past. I've lost my home. My people. My family. And when I finally found them, when they were suffering in pure darkness, I killed them all!" The day I first met Rasputin, and destroyed the Ragnarok Heartless that were once my people. "But even after all that, I still live my life. Strong and proud! To protect my friends and family! You still have a choice, Elsa! Just like I once did! You need to believe in yourself! Don't give in to your fear! Fight it!"

My words hardly reaches Elsa. But I know they'll free her heart from the Nightmarish Shackles that imprison it.

Sora and Anna hurry as fast as they can to Riku and Kristoff, who are rushing their way towards them.

However, in their struggles, Anna takes notice of Hans and her sister. "Elsa? ..." I'm helpless and imprisoned as Hans raises his sword above Elsa.

Anna looks back at Kristoff, then to her sister. She only has one choice to make. And with it, she summons all of her remaining strength to rush to Elsa.

"Anna!" Sora and Aqua shouts.

"ELSA!" I shout as I reach my hand towards her.

Hans makes his stroke. "NOOOOO!" Anna gets in between Hans and Elsa. Mid strike, Anna turns completely frozen. And Han's blade shatters upon impact of Anna's frozen dead body.

The impact lets out a pulse that blows away most of the storm, and knocks Hans back.

All of us are speechless, in shocked at what just happened. But nothing compared to the despaired Elsa. "ANNA!" She shouts in sorrow. Her vision blinded in tears, Elsa looks at her frostbitten sister, then hugs her as she cries.

We all just stand frozen, in silence, mourning for the poor sisters.

In the hour of despair, Anna slowly starts to thaw, instantly. One-by-one, each of us sees what is happening, and our sorrow turns into excitement. Anna continues to recover from the ice until she's completely alive.

Elsa is too caught by surprise at her suddenly revived sister. "Anna!" The two sister hug, joyed as they are reunited. "You sacrificed yourself...for me?"

"Yeah. Cause I love you." Anna says.

Even as sisters, a bold and risky move like that is still unbelievable. That's when Olaf gasps at realization. "An act of True Love will thaw a frozen heart!"

That realization hits the rest of us as well. The reason Anna's still alive is her love for her sister cured her. "Love...love will thaw." Elsa says. After saying it, she's filled with joy. "That's it! Love!"

Cleared of her fear, Elsa concentrates her powers. All the ice begins to melt and the snow flies and gathers right above Elsa. The snow and ice starts to leave the lands and the town. I'm even free of the ice prison Hans put me in.

All the green and water returns to Arendelle once more. All of Elsa's Eternal Winter gathers in the sky, in the form of a large snowflake of ice.

"Guys! Look!" Sora tells Riku and I.

To our surprise, a Keyhole takes form in the center of that giant Snowflake. That's it! The Nightmare! Summoning our Keyblades, we aim for the Keyhole and shoot rays of light.

The Keyhole closes, and a shining light glows brightly. When the light clears, and the skies are clear of the Dark Nightmare.

I let out a relieve sigh. "The cold...It is gone."

That's right. The bone-chilling presence of the Nightmare we've felt when we first step into this world is gone.

Summer is back. The Royal Sisters are reunited and happy as they once were, only that moment is short-lived when we hear Hans awakening from the impact of Anna's frozen body. Kristoff is about to teach this jerk a lesson, only Anna stops him and faces Hans herself.

Hans is shocked to see Anna alive and well. "Anna? ...But...She froze your heart."

"The only frozen heart around here is yours!" Anna says.

Anna makes a hard blow at Hans in the face. "Anna! Stop!" Anna stops before she gets the chance. Elsa grabs hold of her sister. "You shouldn't hurt a prince. It's not what a Princess does." Her tone sounds devious. Anna has a feeling Elsa has a far worse punishment in mind...and she does. "Oh Patrick. Why don't you and your friends here teach this...hooligan some manners?"

The three of us gather around, approaching Hans all gangster style. "As you command, my queen." I say, my tone growling as I pound my fist and crack the knuckles.

Hans chuckles nervously as we approach before him. "Can't we all talk this out?"

Sadly for him, we don't.

After dealing with Hans, everything settles down pretty well for Arendelle. And with that taken care of, we start heading off for the next world. To find the next Keyhole.

Out of all the Nightmare Infected worlds we've come acrossed so far, this had to be one of the worst.


End file.
